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[Hoe,  Robert] 

A  short  history  of  the 
printing  press. 


A  Short  History  of 

The    Printing    Press 

And    of   the     Improvements 
Printing  Machinery   from  the 
Time     of    Gutenberg    up 
to     the     Present     Da\ 


in 


PRINTED  AND  PUBLISH  I  I)  FOR 

ROBERT   HOE 

NEW    YORK. 
1902 


A  Short  History  of 

The   Printing   Press 


A  Short  History  of 

The    Printing    Press 

And     of    the     Improvements     in 

Printing  Machinery   from  the 

Time     of    Gutenberg    up 

to     the     Present     Day 


FROM    A    MEDAL    BY    SCHARFF    OF    VIENNA 


PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR 

ROBERT   HOE 

NEW    YORK 

1902 


FUST    AND    tCHOEFFE« 


\vysiClN    DE    WOIDC 


THE    PRINTING    PRESS 


A3UT  the  year  1450,  Gutenberg  was  engaged  in  printing 
his  first  book  from  movable  types.  No  method  of  taking 
the  impressions  simpler  than  that  employed  by  him  can  be 
imagined,  unless  it  be  with  a  "  buffer,"  or  by  means  of  a  brush 
rubbed  over  the  paper  laid  upon  the  "  form  "  of  type,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Chinese  in  printing  from  engraved  blocks.  His 
printing  press  consisted  of  two  upright  timbers,  with  cross  pieces  of 
wood  to  stay  them  together  at  the  top  and  bottom.  There  were 
also  intermediate  cross  timbers,  one  of  which  supported  the  flat 
"bed"  upon  which  the  type  was  placed,  and  through  another  a 
wooden  screw  passed,  its  lower  point  resting  on  the  centre  of  a 
wooden  "  platen,"  which  was  thus  screwed  down  upon  the  type. 
After  inking  the  form  with  a  ball  of  leather  stuffed  with  wool,  the 
printer  spread  the  paper  over  it,  laying  a  piece  of  blanket  upon  the 
paper  to  soften  the  impression  of  the  platen  and  remove  inequalities. 
This  was  the  machine  which  Gutenberg  used.  The  mechanical 
principle  embodied  in  it  was  found  in  the  old  cheese  and  linen 
presses  ordinarily  seen  in  the  houses  of  medieval  times. 

Were  Gutenberg   called    upon   to   print   his    Bible   to-day   he 
would  find  virtually   the  same  type  ready  for  his  purpose  as  that 


THK    EARLIEST    FORM    OF    PRINTING    I'RKSS 


made  by  him,  no  change 
having  taken  place  in  its 
general  conformation ;  but 
he  would  be  bewildered  in 
the  maze  of  printing  ma- 
chinery of  the  beginning  of 
the  twentieth  century. 

The  simple  form  of 
wooden  press,  worked  with 
a  screw  by  means  of  a  mov- 
able bar,  continued  in  use 
for  about  one  hundred  and 
rifty  years,  or  until  the 
early  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  without  any 
material  change.  The  forms 
of  type  were  placed  upon 
the  same  wooden  and  some- 
times stone  beds,  incased  in  frames  called  "coffins,"  moved  in  and 
out  laboriously  by  hand,  and  after  each  impression  the  platen  had 
to  be  screwed  up  with  the  bar  so  that  the  paper  which  had  been 
printed  upon  it  might  be  removed  and  hung  up  to  dry. 

The  first  recorded  improvements  in  this  press  were  made  by 
William  Jensen  Blaew,  a  printer  of  Amsterdam,  some  time  about 
1620.  They  consisted  in  passing  the  spindle  of  the  screw  through 
a  square  block  which  was  guided  in  the  wooden  frame,  and  from 
this  block  the  platen  was  suspended  by  wires  or  cords;  the  block,  or 
box,  preventing  any  twist  in  the  platen,  and  insuring  a  more  equal 
motion  to  the  screw.  He  also  placed  a  device  upon  the  press  for 
rolling  in  and  out  the  bed,  and  added  a  new  form  of  iron  hand  lever 
for  turning  the  screw.  Blaew's  press  was  introduced  into  England, 
and  used  there  as  well  as  on  the  continent,  being  substantially  the 


THE    EARLIEST    FORM    OF    PRINTING    PRESS 


THE     BLAEW     PRESS 


same  as  that   Benjamin    Franklin  worked  upon  as  a  journeyman   in 
London,  early  in  the  last  century. 

Little  further  im- 
provement was  made  in 
the  printing  press  before 
the  year  1798,  when  the 
Earl  of  Stanhope  caused 
one  to  be  made,  the 
frame  of  which,  instead 
of  being  ot  wood,  was 
one  piece  of  cast-iron. 
A  necessity  had  arisen 
for  greater  power  in  giv- 
ing the  impression,  es- 
pecially in  the  printing 
of  woodcuts,  and  the 
tendency  was  naturally 
toward  larger  forms  of 
type,  requiring  greater 
exertion  on  the  part  of  the  printer;  the  labor  in  working  one  of  the 
old  screw  presses  was  about  equal  to  that  of  the  plowman  in  the 
field.  The  Earl  of  Stanhope  reserved  the  screw,  but  caused  to  be 
added  a  combination  of  levers  to  assist  the  pressman  in  gaining 
greater  power,  when  giving  the  impression,  with  less  expenditure  of 
energy.  These  machines  were  very  heavy  and  extremely  cumber- 
some. They  were  the  first  iron  printing  presses  ever  constructed,  and 
came  into  use  to  some  extent.  The  printers,  seizing  upon  this  new 
idea  of  a  combination  of  levers  to  increase  the  power,  were  induced 
to  place  them  upon  their  wooden  presses,  the  improvement  resulting 
generally  in  the  destruction  of  the  latter,  which  were  not  adapted 
to  stand  the  strain.  The  iron  platen  employed  by  the  Earl  of  Stan- 
hope had,  however,  previously  been  used  upon  the  wooden  presses. 


THE    BLAEW    PRESS 


STAN  HO  1>  K     PRESS 


The  next  practical  improvement  was  made  by  George  Clymer 
of  Philadelphia,  who,  about  i  S  i  6,  devised  an  iron  machine,  entirely 
dispensing  with  a  screw.  A  long,  heavy  cast-iron  lever  was  placed 
over  the  platen,  one  end  attached  to  one  of  the  uprights  of  the  cast- 
iron  frame,  and  the  other  susceptible  of  being  raised  and  lowered 

by  a  combination  of  smaller  lev- 
ers, worked  by  the  pressman  after 
the  manner  of  the  ordinary  hand 
press.  The  impression  was  given 
and  the  platen  raised  and  lowered 
by  a  spindle,  or  pin,  attached  to 
the  centre  of  the  large  cross  lever 
at  the  top,  this  being  properly 
balanced  to  facilitate  its  being 
raised  with  greater  ease.  Mr. 
Clymer  carried  his  invention  to 
England,  where  it  was  introduced 
to  some  extent  and  was  known  as 
the  "  Columbian  "  press. 

In  England  there  were  iron 
hand  presses  made  by  Rutheven,  by 
Brown   and  by  others,  all,   more 
or  less,  improvements  upon  the  Stanhope. 

In  1822  Peter  Smith,  an  American,  connected  with  the  firm 
of  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  in  New  York,  devised  a  machine  which  was  in 
many  respects  superior  to  any  up  to  that  time.  The  frame 
was  of  cast-iron,  and  in  place  of  the  screw  with  levers,  he  substi- 
tuted a  toggle  joint,  at  once  simple  and  effective. 

In  1827,  however,  Samuel  Rust  of  New  York,  perfected  an 
invention  which  was  a  great  improvement  on  the  Smith  press.  The 
frame,  instead  of  being  all  of  cast-iron,  had  the  uprights  at  the  sides 
hollowed  for  the  admission  of  wrought-iron  bars,  which  were 


STANHOPE    PRESS 


CLYMER'S    COLUMBIAN     PRESS 


CLYMER'S  COLUMBIAN  PRESS 


securely  riveted  at  the  top 
and  bottom  of  the  casting. 
This  gave  not  only  additional 
strength,  but  greatly  dimin- 
ished the  amount  of  metal 
used  in  construction.  This 
patent  was  purchased  by 
R.  Hoe  &  Co.,  who  im- 
proved upon  it,  and  pro- 
ceeded with  the  manufacture 
of  the  presses,  although  the 
"  Smith"  continued  to  be 
used  to  some  extent.  The 
new  invention  was  known  as 
the  "  Washington  "  press,  and 
in  principle  and  construction 
has  never  been  surpassed  by 
any  hand  printing  machine. 
They  were  manufactured  in 
great  numbers,  and  continue 
to  be  manufactured  and  sold 
at  the  present  time  for  taking 
fine  proofs,  although  the  uni- 
versal adoption  of  the  cylin- 
der press  has  almost  entirely 
superseded  them  for  other 
printing.  The  number  made 
and  sold  by  Hoe  &  Co. 

.        .  r  .  PETER    SMITH    HAND    PRESS 

alone,  a  majority    or   which 

are  now  in  use,  is  over  six  thousand.     They  have  been  sent  all  over 

the  world.      This  style  of  press  is  made  in  seven  sizes. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  this  press  :  The  bed  slides  on 


W  ASH  I  N  CiTON     H  AND     I'  R  i 


a  track  and  is  run  in  and  out  from  under  the 
platen  by  turning  a  crank  which  has  belts 
attached  to  a  pulley  upon  its  shaft.  The  im- 
pression of  the  platen  is  given  by 
means  of  a  curved  lever  acting  on 
a  toggle  joint,  and  the  platen  is 
lifted  by-  springs  on  either  side. 
Attached  to  the  bed  is  a 
"  tympan  "  frame  covered 
with  cloth,  and  standing  in- 
clined, to  receive  the  sheet 
to  be  printed.  Another 
frame,  called  the  "frisket," 
is  attached  to  the  tympan, 
and  covered  with  a  sheet 
of  paper,  having  the  parts 
which  otherwise  would  be 
printed  upon  cut  away,  so  as  to  prevent  the  "  chase  "  and  "  furniture  " 
from  blacking  or  soiling  the  sheet.  The  frisket  is  turned  down  over 
the  sheet  and  tympan  and  all  are  folded  down  when  the  impression 
is  taken.  Automatic  inking  rollers  were  attached  to  this  machine, 
operated  by  a  weight  raised  by  the  pull  of  the  pressman,  the  descent 
of  the  weight  drawing  the  rollers  over  the  type  and  returning  them 
to  the  inking  cylinder  while  the  pressman  placed  another  sheet 
upon  the  tympan.  Still  further  improvements  in  this  inking  ap- 
paratus were  made  and  patented  by  Hoe  &  Co.,  in  which  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  ink  on  the  rollers  was  effected  by  means  of  an  ap- 
paratus driven  by  steam  power  and  which  also  caused  the  inking 
rollers  to  move  forward  over  the  type  at  the  will  of  the  pressman. 
The  bed  and  platen  system  of  printing  was,  up  to  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  favorite  method  of  printing  fine 
books  and  cuts.  The  first  "  power  "  or  steam  press  upon  this  prin- 


WASHINGTON    HAND    PRESS 


TREADWELL'S     PLATEN     POWER     PRESS 

ciple  was  made  by  Daniel  Treadwell,  of  Boston,  in  1822.  The 
frames  were  of  wood,  and  it  does  not  appear  that  more  than  three 
or  four  of  these  were  ever  constructed.  The  best  machines  of  this 
description  were  those  devised  and  patented  by  Isaac  Adams,  of  Bo-- 
ton, in  1 830  and  1836,  and  by  Otis  Tufts,  of  the  same  place,  in  1 834. 


TREADWELLS    WOODEN-FRAME    BED    AND    PLATEN    POWER    PRESS 


They  were  first  made  with  wooden  and  afterward  with  iron  frames. 
In  1858  Adams's  business  became  the  property  of  Hoe  6c  Co.,  who 
continued  to  manufacture  the  machines  with  added  improvements. 
In  all  more  than  a  thousand,  in  no  less  than  fifty-seven  sizes,  were 
sold  for  use  in  the  United  States,  some  being  sent  to  other  coun- 
tries. In  these  machines,  the  type  is  placed  upon  an  iron  bed,  after 
the  usual  manner  of  the  hand  press,  and  this  bed  is  raised  and  low- 
ered by  straightening  and  bending  a  toggle  joint  by  means  of  a  cam. 


ISAAC    ADAMS'S    BED    AND    PLATEN    PRESS 

thus  giving  the  impression  upon  the  iron  platen  fixed  above  it,  and 
firmly  held  in  position  by  upright  iron  rods  .secured  to  the  bottom 
bar,  a  .strong  cross-piece,  at  the  base  of  the  machine.  The  ink 
fountain  is  at  one  end  of  the  press;  the  inking  rollers  travel  twice 
over  the  form,  in  a  movable  frisket  frame,  while  the  bed  is  down  ; 
the  paper  is  taken  in  by  grippers  on  the  frisket  and  carried  over  the 
form,  when  the  bed  rises  and  the  impression  is  given;  and  finally 
the  sheets  pass  forward  from  the  frisket  by  tapes  to  a  sheet  flier, 
which  delivers  them  on  the  fly  board.  One  thousand  sheets  per  hour 
is  the  maximum  speed  of  the  larger  sizes  of  the  Adams  press.  Al- 
though many  of  these  machines  were  made  and  great  numbers  are 
still  used,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  was  thought  by  many 
experienced  printers  that  fine  book  and  cut  work  could  be  done  in 
no  other  way  than  by  flat  pressure,  this  system  of  printing  has  given 
place  to  that  of  the  cylinder  press. 

The  idea  of  printing  from  plates  or  forms  carried  upon  a  flat 
bed  beneath  a  cylinder  was  not  a  new  one,  having  been  employed 
by  printers  of  copper-plate  engravings  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Their  machines,  however,  were  rude  in  form,  and  made  of  wood, 
the  roller  revolving  in  stationary  bearings,  while  the  bed,  with  the  plate 
upon  it  and  carrying  the  paper,  covered  by  a  blanket,  on  its  surface, 
moved  backward  and  forward  under  the  roller.  The  inking  was 
done  by  hand  with  balls.  With  the  inauguration  of  this  system  of 
printing  from  type  or  forms  placed  upon  a  flat  bed  moved  forwards 
and  backwards  under  a  revolving  cylinder,  commenced  an  entirely 
new  era  in  the  history  of  the  printing  press.  It  should  be  under- 
stood, however,  that  the  vast  number  of  patents  granted  for  printing 
machines  in  which  the  cylinder  is  connected  with  the  bed,  or  by 
the  operation  of  two  cylinders  together,  one  holding  the  form  and 
the  other  giving  the  impression,  are  almost  all  for  improvements 
and  devices  of  detail,  the  radical  principles  upon  which  these  are 
founded  remaining  the  same.  Thus,  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  in  the  early 


THE     FIRST     CYLINDER     PRESS 

part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  projected  a  machine  tor  printing 
from  an  endless  roll,  or  "  web  "  of  paper  ;  and  in  1790  an  English- 
man named  William  Nicholson  (author,  inventor,  patent  agent, 
editor  and  school  teacher]  took  out  a  patent  covering  the  idea  of 
cylinder  presses  in  which  the  forms  should  be  placed  upon  either  a 
flat  bed  or  cylinder  at  will  and  receive  the  impression  from  a  cylin- 
der covered  with  cloth  or  some  similar  material.  Between  the  bed 
and  cylinder,  or  between  the  two  cylinders,  the  sheet  was  to  be  fed 
in  and  printed.  The  ink  was  to  be  put  on  by  a  roller  built  up  of 
cloth  and  covered  with  leather.  There  is,  however,  a  great  differ- 
ence between  an  actual  invention  and  a  scheme.  If  the  simple 
proposition  advanced  to  make  a  machine  upon  this  principle,  without 
its  consummation,  or  without  any  press  being  produced,  can  be 
considered  an  invention,  then  Nicholson  may  (as  a  writer  on  the 
subject  states)  have  been  "  so  far  ahead  of  his  time  as  to  leap  over 
three  generations  "  by  his  invention.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
his  patents  were  mostly  schemes,  and  little  more,  as  a  moment's 
reflection  will  convince.  He  did  not  know  how  to  curve  the  plates 
to  be  put  upon  the  cylinders,  nor  how  to  secure  them  properly  for 
good  work — in  fact,  he  did  not  know  how  to  make  the  plates  in 
any  practicable  manner.  All  these  questions  remained  to  be  solved 
in  order  that  the  printing  press  might  be  an  invention.  On  this 
account,  therefore,  I  do  not  give  descriptions  of  proposals  to  make 
machines,  but  of  presses  that  have  been  actually  made,  and  used 
sufficiently  to  entitle  them  to  recognition  as  practical  improvements 
exemplifying  the  progressive  evolution  of  the  printing  press. 

The  foundation  and  growth  of  newspapers  first  published  peri- 
odically, and  finally  each  day,  created  a  demand  for  machines  which 
should  print  with  rapidity,  and  fine  work  was  delegated  for  the 
time  being  to  the  flat  bed  and  platen  press,  most  of  it,  as  has  been 
seen,  being  turned  out  upon  the  hand  press. 

The  credit  of  actually  introducing  into  use  a  flat  bed  Cylinder 


THE    KOENIG    CYLINDER     PRESS 

Press  is  due  to  a  Saxon  named  Friederich  KocMiig,  who  visited  England 
in  1806,  and  through  the  assistance  of  Thomas  Bensley,  a  printer 
in  London,  devised  a  machine  which  in  1812—1813  was  worked 
by  him, .and  printed,  among  other  publications,  a  part  of  "  Clark- 
son's  Life  of  William  Penn."  Koenig  was  assisted  by  a  mechanic 
named  Andrew  Bauer,  a  fellow-countryman.  The  form  of  type 
was  placed  on  a  flat  bed,  the  cylinder  above  it  having  a  three-fold 
motion,  or  stopping  three  times  ;  the  first  third  of  the  turn  receiv- 
ing the  sheet  upon  one  of  the  tympans  and  securing  it  by  the 
frisket  ;  the  second  giving  the  impression  and  allowing  the  sheet 
to  be  removed  by  hand,  and  the  third  returning  the  tympan  empty 
to  receive  another  sheet. 

These  men  also  devised  what  has  proved,  even  to  this  day,  to 
be  a  most  efficient  reciprocating  motion  of  the  type  bed.  It  con- 
sists of  a  pinion  carried  on  the  inner  end  of  a  long  shaft  which  is 
turned  by  gearing  from  the  outside  of  the  press  frame  and  has  in  its 
length  a  universal  joint,  allowing  an  up-and-down  motion  of  the 
pinion  as  it  revolves.  To  the  outer  end  of  the  shaft  the  wheel  con- 
necting with  the  impression  cylinder  is  attached.  Underneath  the 
bed  and  fastened  to  it  is  a  "  rack,"  or  a  row  of  teeth,  with  a  crescent- 
shaped  segment  of  hard  metal  at  each  end.  In  this  rack,  in  addition 
to  the  teeth,  are  pins,  or  studs,  at  each  end.  The  wheel  before  referred 
to,  at  the  outer  end  of  the  shaft,  being  set  in  motion  revolves  the 
pinion  and  moves  the  bed  by  means  of  the  teeth  in  this  rack.  At 
the  proper  moment,  calling  for  the  reversal  of  the  bed,  the  pinion 
turns  around  over  one  of  the  pins  or  studs,  against  the  segment  on 
the  rack,  and  immediately  re-engages  its  teeth  in  the  opposite  side 
of  the  rack,  so  carrying  the  bed  back  again.  This  motion  is 
repeated  at  the  opposite  end  of  the  rack,  and  the  bed  again  stopped 
and  returned  by  the  pinion  revolving  against  the  segment  and  again 
over  the  rack,  thus  giving  a  reciprocating  motion  to  the  bed. 

In  1814  Koenig  patented  a  continuously  revolving  Cylinder 

16 


THE     KOENIG     CYLINDER     PRESS 

Press.  The  part  of  the  periphery  of  the  cylinder  not  used  for 
giving  the  impression  is  slightly  reduced  in  diameter,  so  as  to  allow 
the  form  to  return  under  it  freely  after  giving  an  impression.  He 
showed  designs  adapting  it  for  use  as  a  single  Cylinder  Press,  and 
also  a  two  Cylinder  Press,  both  for  printing  one  side  of  the  paper  at 
a  time  ;  likewise  a  two  Cylinder  Press  for  printing  both  sides  of  the 
paper  at  one  operation.  In  this  later  press,  the  two  forms  were 
placed  one  at  each  end  of  a  long  bed,  and  the  paper  after  being 
printed  on  one  side  by  one  cylinder,  was  carried  by  tapes  over  a 
registering  roller  to  the  other  cylinder,  where  it  was  printed  upon 
the  reverse  side.  This  press,  termed  a  "  perfecting  press,"  was 
afterwards  improved  by  Applegath  &  Cowper  so  as  to  be  a  very 
efficient  machine. 

Koenig  erected  in  the  office  of  the  London  "  Times  "  in  1814 
two  of  the  two  Cylinder  Presses  mentioned  above,  which  printed  on 
one  side  of  the  paper  only,  at  the  rate  of  800  sheets  per  hour. 

Koenig,  however,  was  not  alone  in  his  efforts  to  perfect  a 
Cylinder  Press.  Various  patents  were  gotten  out  by  Bacon  &  Donkin 
in  1813;  by  Cowper  in  1 8 1 6  and  again  in  1 8 1 8  ;  and  by  Apple- 
gath in  1818.  But  the  most  ingenious  and  practical  device  in 
connection  with  the  movements  of  a  flat  bed  and  a  cylinder  for 
printing  machines  was  patented  by  Napier  in  1828  and  1830.  He 
was  the  first  who  introduced  "  grippers,"  or  "fihgers,"  for  the  con- 
veyance of  the  sheets  around  the  cylinder  during  the  impression,  and 
for  delivering  them  after  printing.  Tapes  or  strings  had  previously 
been  employed  for  this  purpose.  He  was  also  the  first  to  manufacture 
presses  in  which  the  impression  cylinders  are  of  small  size  and  make 
two  or  more  revolutions  to  each  sheet  printed,  and  he  devised  the 
toggles  for  bringing  the  cylinders  down  to  print  on  the  form  and 
for  raising  them  to  let  the  form  run  back  without  touching. 

The  news  of  these  later  inventions  reached  New  York  in  due 
time,  and  in  1832  Robert  Hoe,  who  had  been  some  time  established 

»7 


SINGLE    SMALL    CYLINDER     PRESS 

in    the  manufacture   of  printing  presses,  sent  a  young  man,  Sereno 
Newton  (whom   he  afterwards  took  in   partnership   with  him),  to 


SINGLE    SMALL    CYLINDER    PRESS 


DOUBLE    CYLINDER    PRESS 


England  to  investigate  the  subject  and  see  what  improvements  were 
worthy  of  adoption.       The   result    was    the    construction    of   the 


ii 


SINGLE     LARGE     CYLINDER     PRESS 


SINGLE     LARGE    CYLINDER    PRESS 


machines  known  as  the  "  Single  Small  Cylinder  "  and  "  Double 
Small  Cylinder,"  also  the  large  Cylinder  "  Perfecting  "  Press,  which 
have  continued,  with  many  alterations  and  improvements,  to  be 
manufactured  up  to  the  present  time. 

Hoe  &  Co.  had  previously  made  the  first  flat  bed  and  cylinder 
press  ever  used  in  the  United  States.  It  was  the  pattern  known  as  the 
"  Single  Large  Cylinder,"  the  whole  circumference  of  the  cylinder 
being  equivalent  to  the  entire  travel  of  the  bed  forwards  and  back- 
wards, the  cylinder  making  one  revolution  for  each  impression  in 
printing,  without  stopping.  Only  a  portion  of  the  cylinder  was  em- 
ployed to  take  the  impression,  the  remainder  of  its  circumference  being 


'9 


SINGLE    LARGE    CYLINDER    PRESS 

turned  down  small  enough  to  allow  the  type  on  the  bed  to  pass  back 
under  it  without  touching.  Hundreds  of  these  machines  were  made 
and  are  now  in  use,  and  they  are  still  made  at  the  present  day, 
with  patented  sheet  fliers  and  other  devices  and  improvements  in  the 
methods  of  manufacture.  Other  similar  presses  were  made  later  by 
the  press-makers  A.  B.  Taylor,  A.  Campbell,  C.  B.  Cottrell,  and 
C.  Potter,  Jr. 

The  patented  sheet  flier  before  referred  to,  and  which  was 
used  on  the  "Adams "  bed  and  platen  press,  was  greatly  improved 
by  Hoe  &  Co.  and  placed  upon  all  their  cylinder  presses. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  an  account  of  the  faster  news- 
paper presses,  it  may  be  well  to  complete  the  history  of  machines 
employed  up  to  this  time  for  book,  job  and  woodcut  printing.  For 
this  purpose  the  "Single  Large  Cylinder,"  already  described,  was 
first  used.  In  England  there  were  the"  Napier  "  presses,  the  "Wharf- 
dale  "  and  many  others,  all  involving  the  same  general  principle,  and 
capable  of  turning  out  more  or  less  satisfactory  work,  in  proportion 
to  the  perfection  of  their  construction  and  the  skill  of  those  operat- 
ing them.  Most  of  the  English  machines,  however,  show  defects  in 
mechanical  construction.  In  fact,  the  supremacy  of  the  American 
printing  press  is  maintained  in  a  large  measure  by  the  simplicity, 
accuracy  and  perfection  of  its  mechanism.  Foreign  presses,  made 
by  the  cheap  labor  of  Europe,  have  been  repeatedly  brought  to  this 
country  and  introduced  into  printing  offices.  They  have  never, 
however,  lasted  long,  most  of  them  having  perished  in  the  using  or 
been  found  unprofitable. 

There  have  been  various  modifications  of  the  principle  under- 
lying the  Napier  movement  for  flat-bed  presses,  i.  e.,  having  the 
driving  wheel  engage  the  rack  at  all  times,  reversing  the  movement 
by  turning  about  the  ends  of  the  rack  and  driving  the  bed  alter- 
nately in  opposite  directions. 

As  early  as  1 847  Hoe  &  Co.  patented   an   entirely  new   bed 


THE     MIEHLE     PRESS 

driving  mechanism.  To  a  hanger  fixed  on  the  lower  side  of  the 
bed  were  attached  two  racks  facing  each  other,  but  not  in  the  same 
vertical  plane,  and  separated  by  a  distance  equal  to  the  diameter  of 
the  driving  wheel,  which  was  on  a  horizontal  shaft  and  movable 
sideways  so  as  to  engage  in  either  one  or  other  of  the  racks.  By 
this  means,  a  uniform  movement  was  obtained  in  each  direction. 

The  reversal  of  the  bed  was  accomplished  by  a  roller  at  either 
end  of  the  bed  entering  a  recess  in  a  disc  on  the  driving  shaft, 
which  in  a  half  revolution  brought  the  bed  to  a  stop  and  started  it 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

This  involved  a  new  principle;  a  crank  action  operating  di- 
rectly upon  the  bed  from  a  shaft  having  a  fixed  centre,  and  within 
recent  years  modifications  of  this  patent  have  been  successfully 
employed  to  drive  the  type  bed  at  a  high  velocity  and  reverse  it 
without  shock  or  vibration. 

The  "Miehle"  Press  is  a  modified  form  of  this  movement; 
the  crank  pin  or  roller  is  attached  to  the  side  of  the  bed  wheel, 
and  at  the  ends  of  the  uniform  movement  it  is  enclosed  within  the 
walls  of  a  vertical  guideway  formed  at  each  end  of  the  rack  sup- 
porting frame,  and  passes  through  the  length  of  this  guide  as  it 
performs  its  function  of  reversing  the  bed. 

An  improvement  in  this  class  of  bed  motions  has  lately  been 
made  and  patented  by  Hoe  &  Co.  In  this  machine  the  crank  pin, 
which  controls  the  reversal  of  the  motion  of  the  type  bed,  moves  in 
a  rectilinear  instead  of  a  circular  pathway.  As  the  motion  of  the 
crank  is  thus  directly  in  line  with  the  travel  of  the  bed,  it  is  possible 
to  lock  the  journal  box,  enclosing  the  pin,  securely  to  the  bed,  while 
the  bed  is  being  controlled  by  the  action  of  the  crank,  and  thereby 
avoids  the  friction  and  consequent  wear  of  parts  that  occur  when 
the  crank  pin  moves  in  a  circular  line.  The  movement  of  the 
crank  is  obtained  from  the  rotatory  motion  of  the  bed  wheel,  and 
has  the  same  varying  velocities  as  would  be  derived  from  a  crank 


STOP    CYLINDER    LITHOGRAPHIC    PRESS 

traveling  in  a  circular  pathway.  It,  therefore,  checks  the  momen- 
tum of  the  bed  with  ease,  brings  the  bed  to  rest,  and  returns  it 
with  an  accelerating  motion  while  under  positive  control.  The 
wearing  of  parts  is  thus  reduced  to  the  minimum,  insuring  an  ac- 
curacy of  register  and  exactness  of  motion  hitherto  unattainable. 
A  press  with  a  bed  measuring  48  x  65  inches  runs  without  jar  or 
vibration  at  a  speed  of  1,800  impressions  an  hour. 

The  press  of  the  present  day  from  which  the  finest  letterpress 
and  woodcut  work  is  turned  off  is  known  as  the  "Stop  Cylinder." 
This  was  devised  and  patented  by  a  Frenchman  named  Dutartre, 
in  1852,  and  introduced  into  this  country  about  1853  by  Hoe  & 
Co.,  who  have  since  patented  many  improvements  upon  it.  It  was  a 
surprise  to  many  printers  to  find  that  this  machine  could  do  work 
which  heretofore  it  had  been  supposed  the  hand  press  only  was 
capable  of  performing. 

The  Stop  Cylinder  Press  may  be  described  as  follows:  The 
type  is  secured  upon  a  traveling  iron  bed,  which  moves  back  and 
forth  upon  friction  rollers  of  steel,  the  bed  being  driven  by  a  simple 
crank  motion,  stopping  and  starting  it  without  noise  or  jar.  All 
the  running  portions  of  this  bed  are  made  of  fine  steel  as  hard  as  it 
can  be  worked.  The  cylinder  is  stopped  by  a  cam  motion  pend- 
ing the  backward  travel  of  the  bed,  and  during  the  interval  of 
rest  the  sheet  is  fed  down  against  the  guides  and  the  grippers 
closed  upon  it  before  the  cylinder  starts,  thus  insuring  the  utmost 
accuracy  of  register.  After  the  impression,  the  sheet  is  trans- 
ferred  to  a  skeleton  cylinder,  also  containing  grippers,  which  re- 
ceives, and  delivers  it,  over  fine  cords,  upon  the  sheet  flier,  which  in 
turn  deposits  it  upon  the  table.  The  distribution  of  the  ink  is 
effected  partly  by  a  vibrating,  polished,  steel  cylinder,  and  partly 
upon  a  flat  table  at  the  end  of  the  traveling  bed,  the  number  of  form- 
inking  rollers  varying  from  four  to  six.  This  is  without  doubt  the 
most  perfect  flat  bed  cylinder  printing  machine  that  has  ever  been 


ROTARY     ZINCOGRAPHIC     PRESS 

devised.  It  is  made  in  various  sizes.  The  average  output  of  one 
of  these  presses  with  a  bed  36x54  inches  is  from  1,000  to  1,500 
impressions  per  hour. 

The  demand  being  constantly  for  machines  taking  on  larger 
sized  forms,  there  has  been  lately  constructed  and  patented  by  R. 
Hoe  &  Co.  an  entirely  new  Stop  Cylinder  Press,  having  a  bed  45  x  62 
inches,  and  which  can  be  run  at  a  speed  of  i  ,700  impressions  an  hour. 
The  main  points  of  difference  between  the  Stop  Cylinder  Press  for 
type  forms  and  the  Lithographic  Press  is  in  the  form  of  the  bed  only, 
the  other  portions,  including  the  driving  apparatus,  being  almost 
identical ;  therefore  the  same  general  description  applies  to  these 
new  machines  for  both  classes  of  work.  A  great  objection  to  flat- 
bed presses  of  large  size  has  always  been  the  height  of  the  cylinder 
from  the  floor,  necessitated  by  the  increased  dimensions  of  the  driv- 
ing apparatus  under  the  bed.  In  these  new  presses  the  bed  is  recip- 
rocated as  usual  by  a  crank  motion,  but  made  exceptionally  strong 
and  compounded.  This  method  of  construction  not  only  gives  the 
increased  speed  but  makes  the  bed  of  the  machine  low  down,  so 
that  it  is  better  under  the  hand  and  eye  of  the  operator.  The 
product  of  the  machine  is  delivered  printed  side  up,  Sy  a  patented 
take-ofF  apparatus,  which  takes  the  sheets  from  the  impression  cyl- 
inder by  grippers  in  a  reciprocating  carriage  and  deposits  them 
upon  a  table.  No  tapes  or  guides  come  in  contact  with  the  freshly 
printed  ink. 

Keeping  pace  with  the  improved  methods  and  machines 
employed  in  typographic  printing,  and  influenced  thereby,  the  litho- 
graphic and  kindred  branches  of  printing  have  also  made  progress, 
induced  mainly,  however,  by  the  general  striving  for  more  rapid 
and  economical  production.  This  has  been  accomplished  by  using 
larger  stones,  paper  and  machines,  and  by  employing  rotary  ma- 
chines for  some  work.  The  use  of  curved  stones  for  lithography 
being  impracticable  for  many  reasons,  a  substitute  was  found  in 


TWO-COLOR     ROTARY     PRESSES 

plates  or  sheets  made  of  zinc  or  aluminum,  which,  when  properly 
prepared,  possess  properties  akin  to  those  in  lithographic  stones. 
Being  flexible,  these  sheets  are  easily  stretched  over  the  curved  sur- 
face  of  a  cylinder.  Although  the  development  of  this  branch  or' 
printing  is  due,  chiefly,  to  the  French  and  Germans,  much  has 
been  done  in  this  country  toward  its  improvement,  and  work  is 
produced  upon  Rotary  Zincographic  or  Aluminum  Presses  that 
compares  favorably  with  that  produced  from  stones,  and  at  double 
the  speed.  The  smaller  of  these  presses,  printing  only  one  color  at 
a  time,  prints  on  sheets  30  x  44  inches,  at  a  speed  up  to  2,000  im- 
pressions per  hour  ;  the  larger  presses  of  the  same  kind  print  on 
sheets  44  x  64  inches,  at  a  speed  up  to  i  ,700  impressions  per  hour, 
although  the  machines  may  be  run  even  faster,  according  to  the 
dexterity  of  the  feeder. 

Two-Color  Rotary  Presses  are  in  successful  operation  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  this  country.  In  these  machines  there  are  two  plate 
cylinders  and  one  impression  cylinder,  each  of  the  plate  cylinders 
having  its  own  inking  and  dampening  appliances.  The  sheet  of 
paper,  after  being  fed  to  the  grippers  of  the  impression  cylinder, 
receives  one  printing  from  the  first  plate  cylinder,  and  a  second 
printing,  in  a  different  color,  from  the  second  plate  cylinder,  and  is 
then  released  from  the  grippers  and  delivered  in  the  usual  manner 
by  the  sheet  flier.  The  size  of  the  sheets  printed  is  44  x  64  inches, 
and  running  at  a  speed  of  1,700  revolutions  per  hour,  the  number 
of  printings  is  3,400,  or  double  that  obtained  from  the  one-color 
machine  of  the  same  size. 

We  now  return  to  a  further  consideration  of  the  newspaper  press. 
The  "  Single  Small  Cylinder "  and  "  Double  Small  Cylinder " 
machines  heretofore  described  as  primarily  the  invention  of  Napier, 
and  perfected  by  Hoe  &  Co.  and  made  by  them,  came  into  general 
use  in  the  United  States.  In  construction  and  for  the  quantity  and 
quality  of  work  produced  they  excelled  any  made  in  England  ;  the 

18 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING     PRESS 

output  of  one  of  the  "Single  Cylinder"  presses  reaching  2,000 
impressions  per  hour,  or  about  as  fast  as  the  feeder  could  lay  down 
the  sheets.  When  still  greater  speed  was  required  the  "  Double 
Cylinder  "  press  was  used,  the  travel  of  the  bed  being  of  such  length 
that  the  form  of  type  passed  backward  and  forward  under  both  cyl- 
inders. Two  feeders  accordingly  put  in  the  sheets  ;  the  maximum 
speed  obtained  being  about  2,000  from  each  cylinder,  or  4,000  from 
the  two  cylinders  per  hour,  printed  on  one  side.  It  was  evident, 
both  in  England  and  America,  that  something  faster  must  be 
devised.  The  growing  demand  for  papers  containing  the  latest 
news  necessitated  increasing  effort  on  the  part  of  the  machine- 
makers.  The  presses  of  Dryden  &  Ford,  Middleton,  and  others 
in  England  failed  to  meet  the  requirements  there,  as  did  the 
"Single"  and  Double"  Cylinders  in  America. 

In  1845  and  1846  the  firm  of  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  in  New  York 
were  busily  engaged  upon  plans  and  inventions  for  presses  which 
should  meet  the  increased  requirements  of  the  newspapers  in  America. 
The  result  was  the  construction  of  a  press  known  as  the  "  Hoe  Type 
Revolving  Machine,"  embodying  patents  taken  out  by  Richard  M. 
Hoe.  The  first  one  of  these  machines  was  placed  in  the  "Ledger" 
office  in  Philadelphia,  in  i  846.  The  basis  of  these  inventions  con- 
sisted in  an  apparatus  for  securely  fastening  the  forms  of  type  on  a 
central  cylinder  placed  in  a  horizontal  position.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  the  construction  of  cast-iron  beds,  one  for  each  page  of 
the  newspaper.  The  column  rules  were  made  "  V  ' '  shaped ;  i.  e., 
tapering  toward  the  feet  of  the  type.  It  was  found  that,  with  proper 
arrangement  for  locking  up  or  securing  the  type  upon  these  beds,  it 
could  be  held  firmly  in  position,  the  surface  form  a  true  circle,  and 
the  cylinder  revolved  at  any  speed  required  without  danger  of  the 
type  falling  out.  Around  this  central  cylinder  from  four  to  ten 
impression  cylinders,  according  to  the  output  required,  were  grouped. 
The  sheets  were  fed  in  by  boys,  and  taken  from  the  feed  board 

31 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING     PRESS 

by  automatic  grippers,  or  ringers,  operated  by  cams  in  the  impres- 
sion cylinders,  and  which  conveyed  them  around  against  the  revolv- 
ing form  of  the  central  cylinder.  Here  again  a  great  advantage  was 
gained  by  the  use  of  the  patented  sheet  rlier,  consisting  of  a  row  of 
long  wooden  fingers  fastened  to  the  shaft,  and  operated  by  a  cam  and 
springs;  the  sheet  after  printing  being  conducted  out  underneath 
each  feed  board  by  means  of  tapes  to  the  sheet  fliers,  which  laid 
them  in  piles  on  tables  ;  the  number  of  fliers  and  tables  correspond- 
ing to  the  number  of  impression  cylinders.  The  inking  was  accomp- 
lished by  the  use  of  composition  rollers  placed  between  each  of  the 
impression  cylinders ;  the  fountain  being  below,  underneath  the 
main  type  cylinder.  The  portion  of  the  surface  of  this  type  cylin- 
der, not  occupied  by  the  type  itself,  was  utilized  as  a  distributing 
table,  its  surface  being  lower  than  that  of  the  type,  and  the  inking 
rollers  rising  and  falling  alternately  to  place  the  ink  on  the  type  and 
receive  a  new  supply  from  the  distributing  surface.  The  first  of 
these  presses  had  only  four  impression  cylinders,  necessitating  four 
boys  to  feed  the  sheets.  The  running  speed  obtained  was  about 
2,000  sheets  to  each  feeder  per  hour,  thus  giving,  with  what  was 
called  a  "  Four  Feeder"  or  "Four  Cylinder"  machine,  a  running 
capacity  of  about  8,000  papers,  per  hour,  printed  upon  one  side.  As 
the  demands  of  the  newspapers  increased,  more  impression  cylinders 
were  added,  until  these  machines  were  made  with  as  many  as  ten 
grouped  around  the  central  cylinder,  giving  an  aggregate  speed  of 
about  20,000  papers  per  hour  printed  upon  one  side.  A  revolution 
in  newspaper  printing  took  place.  Journals  which  before  had  been 
limited  in  their  circulation  by  their  inability  to  furnish  the  papers 
rapidly  increased  their  issues,  and  many  new  ones  were  started.  The 
new  presses  were  adopted  not  only  throughout  the  United  States,  but 
also  in  Great  Britain.  The  first  one  put  up  abroad  was  erected 
in  1848,  in  the  office  of  "La  Patrie"  in  Paris,  but  the  downfall  of 
the  Republic  and  the  re-imposition  of  a  stamp  duty,  soon  put 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING    PRESS 

an  end  to  all  enterprise  in  French  newspaper  publishing.  The 
English,  always  slow  to  adopt  improvements,  did  not  appreciate 
the  value  of  these  presses  until  the  year  1856,  when  Edward  Lloyd 
of  "  Lloyd's  Weekly  Newspaper  "  in  London,  having  seen  the  one 
in  the  office  of  "La  Patrie,"  ordered  a  "  Six-Cylinder"  machine. 
This  was  erected  in  his  office  in  Salisbury  Square,  Fleet  Street,  Lon- 
don, in  the  following  year.  It  was  no  sooner  in  operation  and 
seen  by  the  other  newspaper  proprietors  than  orders  were  received 
from  the  London  "  Times  "  for  two  "  Ten-Cylinder  "  presses,  to 
replace  the  Applegath  machine  they  were  then  using.  The 
order  for  these  machines  was  a  gratifying  tribute  to  American 
ingenuity,  for  the  "Times"  in  December,  1848,  in  an  article  on 
the  starting  of  the  Applegath  vertical  cylinder  press,  stated  that  "  No 
art  of  packing  could  make  the  type  adhere  to  a  cylinder  revolving 
around  a  horizontal  axis  and  thereby  aggravating  centrifugal  impulse 
by  the  intrinsic  weight  of  the  metal."  Eventually  orders  from 
almost  all  of  the  leading  newspapers  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
were  received. 

In  the  meantime  various  experiments  had  demonstrated  the 
possibility  of  casting  stereotype  plates  on  a  curve.  The  process 
was  brought  to  perfection  by  the  use  of  flexible  paper  matrices, 
upon  which  the  metal  was  cast  in  curved  moulds  to  any  circle  de- 
sired, and  these  plates  were  placed  upon  the  Hoe  "  Type  Revolving 
Machine"  upon  beds  adapted  to  receive  them  instead  of  the  type  forms. 
The  newspaper  publishers  were  thus  enabled  to  duplicate  the  forms, 
and  run  several  machines  at  the  same  time  with  a  view  of  turning 
out  the  papers  with  greater  rapidity.  In  some  large  offices,  such 
as  the  New  York  "  Herald,"  London  "  Daily  Telegraph,"  and  the 
London  "  Standard,"  as  many  as  five  of  these  machines  were  in 
constant  operation.  About  this  time  the  stamp  duty  in  England 
of  one  penny  upon  each  sheet  of  printed  matter  was  repealed.  This 
in  itself  aided  materially  in  the  development  of  the  newspaper  press. 

37 


APPLEGATH'S     TYPE-REVOLVING     PRESS 

After  the  return  of  Koenig  to  Germany,  an  Englishman  named 
Applegath,  in  connection  with  a  machinist  named  C'owper,  made 
various  improvements,  mostly  in  the  way  of  simplifying  Koenig's 
presses.  After  many  experiments,  they  in  1848  constructed  for  the 
London  "Times"  an  elaborate  machine,  entirely  upon  the  cylindri- 
cal principle.  All  of  the  cylinders  of  this  machine  instead  of  being 
horizontal,  as  in  presses  heretofore  used,  were  vertical  The  type 
was  placed  upon  a  large  upright  central  cylinder,  but  the  circum- 
ference instead  of  presenting  a  complete  circle  represented  as  many 
flat  surfaces  as  there  were  columns  in  the  newspaper,  the  forms  thus 
being  polygonal.  Around  this  central  or  form  cylinder  were 
placed  eight  smaller  vertical  cylinders  for  taking  the  impression, 
inking  rollers  being  introduced  to  ink  the  type  as  it  passed  alter- 
nately from  one  of  these  impression  cylinders  to  another.  The 
sheets  were  fed  down  by  hand  from  eight  flat  horizontal  feed-boards 
through  tapes ;  then  grasped  by  another  set  of  tapes  and  passed  side- 
ways between  the  impression  cylinder  and  the  type  cylinder,  thus 
obtaining  sheets  printed  upon  one  side.  The  impression  cylinder 
delivered  them,  still  in  a  vertical  position,  into  the  hands  of  boys, 
one  stationed  at  each  cylinder  to  receive  them.  The  results  ob- 
tained from  this  machine  were  in  a  measure  satisfactory,  as  the 
number  of  papers  printed  per  hour  upon  one  side,  from  one  form 
of  type,  was  materially  increased ;  not,  however,  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  impression  cylinders  placed  around  it,  as  the 
press  at  its  best  could  produce  but  8,000  impressions  per  hour, 
on  one  side  of  the  sheets.  Having  devised  no  means  to  lock 
up  the  type  other  than  in  flat  columns,  the  polygonal  form  was 
a  necessity,  and  the  irregularities  in  it  were  made  up  by  under- 
laying the  blankets  on  the  impression  cylinders  to  take  up  these 
inequalities.  Although  this  press,  used  in  the  London  "Times" 
office,  was  the  only  one  of  the  kind  ever  made,  its  size  and 
importance  warrant  some  record  and  description  of  it.  This 


X  JU7 . 


39 


BULLOCK     PRESS 

machine  was  taken  out  to  make  way  for  Hoe  Type  Revolving 
Presses. 

In  1835  Sir  Rowland  Hill  had  suggested  the  possibilities  of  a 
machine  which  should  print  both  sides  at  once  from  a  roll  of  paper. 
It  is  well  known  that  for  many  years  cotton  cloths  had  been  printed 
in  this  way,  the  cylinders  being  engraved  and  the  cloth  after  print- 
ing being  reeled  up  again.  The  suggestion,  however,  was  accom- 
panied by  no  practical  knowledge  as  to  the  details,  and,  above  all,  no 
practical  provision  for  the  rapid  cutting  off  and  delivery  of  the 
paper  either  before  or  after  it  had  been  printed.  It  remained  for  an 
American,  William  Bullock,  of  Philadelphia,  to  construct,  in  1865, 
the  first  printing  machine  to  print  from  a  continuous  web  or  roll  of 
paper.  His  machine  consisted  of  two  pairs  of  cylinders,  i.  e.,  two  form 
or  plate  cylinders  and  two  impression  cylinders.  The  second  impres- 
sion cylinder  was  made  of  large  size  to  provide  additional  tympan 
surface,  to  lessen  the  offset  from  the  first  printed  side  of  the  paper. 
The  stereotype  plates  were  not  made  to  fill  the  whole  circumference 
of  each  of  the  form  cylinders,  as  the  sheets  were  cut  before  print- 
ing. One  difficulty  he  had  to  contend  with  was  the  cutting  off  of 
the  sheets  with  sufficient  accuracy  and  rapidity.  This  he  accomp- 
lished by  severing  them  by  means  of  knives  in  cylinders.  The 
sheets  were  then  carried  through  the  press  by  tapes  and  fingers,  and 
delivery  sought  to  be  accomplished  by  means  of  a  series  of  auto- 
matic metal  nippers  placed  upon  endless  leather  belts  at  such  distance 
apart  as  to  grasp  each  sheet  successively  as  it  came  from  the  last 
printing  cylinders.  This  machine  was  put  up  in  several  offices  and 
rejected  because  of  its  unreliability,  especially  in  the  delivery  of  the 
papers,  but  it  was  finally  so  far  perfected  that  it  came  into  use  to  a 
considerable  extent. 

Meanwhile  the  proprietors  of  the  London  "Times"  inaugu- 
rated experiments  with  the  view  of  making  a  rotary  perfecting  press, 
and  finally  started  the  first  one  in  that  office  about  1868.  It  was 

41 


LONDON  TIMES  ROTARY  MACHINE 

similar  in  construction  to  the  "Bullock  "  press  so  far  as  the  print- 
ing apparatus  was  concerned,  excepting  that  the  cylinders  were  all 
of  one  size  and  placed  one  above  the  other.  The  sheets  were  sev- 
ered after  printing,  brought  up  by  tapes,  and  carried  down  to  a 
sheet  flier  which  moved  back  and  forth,  and  "  flirted"  the  sheets 
alternately  into  the  hands  of  two  boys  seated  opposite  one  another 
on  either  side  of  the  sheet  flier. 

Marinoni,  of  Paris,  also  devised  a  machine  on  a  similar  principle, 
making  the  impression  and  the  form  cylinder  of  one  size,  and 
placed  them  one  above  the  other.  The  "Marinoni"  machine  had 
separate  fly  boards  for  the  delivery  of  the  sheets. 

In  1871  R.  Hoe  &  Co.  also  turned  their  attention  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  rotary  perfecting  press  to  print  from  a  roll  or  con- 
tinuous web  of  paper. 

As  before  stated,  the  greatest  difficulties  to  be  encountered 
were: — 

First.     The  set-off  of  the  first  side. 

Devices  were  used  to  overcome  this  and  the  ink-makers  were 
induced  to  pay  special  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  rapid-drying 
or  non-setting-ofF  inks. 

Second.  The  difficulties  in  obtaining  paper  in  the  roll  of  uni- 
form perfection  and  strength.  The  paper-makers  were  led  to  make 
a  study  of  producing  large  rolls  of  paper  meeting  these  require- 
ments, and  became  much  more  experienced  in  its  manufacture. 
The  "Walter"  press  in  the  "Times"  office  had  necessitated  a  very 
strong  and  expensive  paper,  which  could  not  be  afforded  by  the 
cheap  daily  press. 

Third.  The  difficulty  of  the  rapid  severing  of  the  sheets  after 
printing. 

Fourth.  A  reliable  and  accurate  delivery  of  the  printed 
papers. 

These  last  two  operations  were  not  accomplished  satisfactorily 


43 


45 


FIRST     HOE    WEB     PRESS 

until  the  appearance  of  the  Hoe  machine.  In  this  press  the  sheets 
were  not  entirely  severed  by  the  cutters,  but  simply  perforated  after 
the  printing.  They  were  then  drawn  by  accelerating  tapes,  which 
completely  separated  them,  onto  a  gathering  cylinder  so  constructed 
that  six  perfect  papers,  or  any  other  desired  number,  could  be 
gathered  one  over  the  other.  These,  by  means  of  a  switch,  were 
at  the  proper  moment  turned  off  onto  one  sheet  flier,  which  de- 
posited them  on  the  receiving  board.  This  gathering  and  delivery 
cylinder,  patented  by  Stephen  D.  Tucker,  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
R.  Hoe  &  Co.,  solved  the  problem  of  rapid  flat  delivery.  The 
first  of  these  machines  was  placed  in  the  office  of  "  Lloyd's  Weekly 
Newspaper,"  in  London,  and  the  first  one  used  in  the  United  States 
in  the  "  Tribune "  office  in  New  York.  There  was  no  limit  to 
their  capacity  for  printing  excepting  the  ability  of  the  paper  to 
stand  the  strain  of  passing  through  the  press,  which  produced,  when 
put  to  its  speed,  18,000  perfect  papers  an  hour,  delivered  accurately 
on  one  feed-board.  The  average  speed,  however,  in  printing  offices 
was  i  2,000,  although  in  some  offices  they  were  run  at  about  14,000 
per  hour. 

The  "Walter"  press,  made  by  the  London  "Times,"  was 
used  by  it,  and  also  by  the  London  "  Daily  News"  and  by  the  New 
York  "  Times."  Further  than  that  it  made  no  progress  and  has 
now  gone  entirely  out  of  use,  the  presses  of  this  kind  in  the  Lon- 
don "  Times  "  office  having  been  replaced  by  machines  made  by 
R.  Hoe  &  Co.  Meantime  their  machines  were  adopted  by  most 
of  the  large  newspapers  in  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain. 

These  new  methods,  of  course,  entirely  superseded  the  "  Hoe 
Type  Revolving  Machine,"  which  had  reigned  supreme  in  the  news- 
paper world  for  over  twenty  years,  and  of  which  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  had  been  made,  almost  all  of  which  have  now  disap- 
peared. 

Up   to  the   middle    of  the   last  century  the  paper   had   been 

47 


FIRST    HOE    WEB     PRESS 

made  from  rags,  but  us  these  became  unobtainable  in  sufficient  quan- 
titv  some  substitute  had  to  be  found.  First  straw  and  afterwards 
wood  pulp  was  successfully  employed,  and  paper  made  from  the  latter 
is  now  in  universal  use.  Its  cheapness  (averaging  now  about  three 
cents  per  pound)  materially  aided  the  newspapers,  and  stimulated  the 
printing  machine  manufacturers  to  renewed  efforts  in  devising  presses 
of  still  greater  speed  and  efficiency. 

It  was  desirable  also  that  the  papers  should  be  delivered  folded 
ready  for  the  carrier  or  mail.  The  first  apparatus  to  accomplish  this 
was  similar  in  design  to  the  hand-fed  folding  machine  in  common 
use  in  printing  offices.  The  sheets,  fed  separately  into  these  machines, 
were  carried  by  tapes  running  upon  pulleys  under  striking  blades, 
which  forced  them  between  pairs  of  folding  rollers.  After  the  first 
fold  they  were  again  carried  in  a  similar  manner  under  striking 
blades,  placed  at  right  angles  to  the  first,  and  again  struck  down 
between  rollers  to  receive  a  second  fold.  This  action  was  continued 
until  the  desired  number  of  folds  had  been  secured.  Folders  of  this 
description  were- attached  to  the  fast  presses,  but  none  made  could 
be  worked  at  a  greater  speed  than  about  8,000  per  hour,  until  in 
1875  Stephen  D.  Tucker  patented  a  rotating  folding  cylinder  which 
folded  papers  as  fast  as  they  came  from  the  press,  or  15,000  in  the 
hour.  The  striking  blade  folders  were  used  in  the  "  Bullock"  press, 
in  machines  made  by  C.  Potter,  Jr.,  &  Co.  and  others.  Andrew 
Campbell,  a  printing  press  manufacturer,  also  constructed  a  rotary 
perfecting  press,  but  his  devices  were  not  original.  Four  or 
five  machines  were  made  by  him,  and  these  soon  went  out 
of  use. 

The  first  folders  made  by  Hoe  &  Co.  consisted  of  the  combi- 
nation of  a  "gathering  cylinder"  with  a  rotary  folding  cylinder 
and  tapes  conveying  the  printed  sheets  under  horizontal  folding 
blades,  somewhat  similar  to  those  before  described,  which  thrust 
them  at  the  proper  moment  between  folding  rollers  placed  at  alter- 

48 


49 


FIRST     HOE    WEB     PRESS 

nate  angles,  finally  delivering  them  on  travelling  belts  by  a  small 
flier.  The  first  of  these  folding  machines  were  put  upon  the  presses 
made  for  the  Philadelphia  "  Times"  and  operated  in  the  Centennial 
Exhibition,  in  1876. 

These  folders,  however,  were  only  the  commencement  of  a 
long  series  of  experiments  undertaken  by  the  makers  in  the  devel- 
opment of  still  faster  printing  and  folding  mechanisms,  and  from 
this  time  forward  the  progress  made  has  been  phenomenal.  With 
great  ingenuity,  added  to  long  experience,  and  by  the  acquisition 
and  adaptation  of  every  device  which  should  aid  them  in  their  efforts, 
Hoe  &  Co.  succeeded  in  providing  machines  of  unrivalled  designs, 
efficiency  and  speed. 

About  i  876  Messrs.  Anthony  &  Taylor  of  England  (the  former 
one  of  the  owners  of  a  newspaper  in  Hereford)  took  out  patents 
for  devices  by  which  the  webs  of  paper  could  be  turned  over  after 
printing  on  one  side  and  the  opposite  or  reversed  side  presented  to 
the  printing  cylinder.  Mr.  Hoe,  who  was  in  England  at  the  time, 
appreciating  the  possible  use  and  development  of  these  patents,  became 
possessed  of  them  for  England  and  the  United  States. 

E.  L.  Ford,  engaged  in  the  publication  of  a  newspaper  in  New 
York,  patented  the  uniting  of  the  product  of  two  or  more  printing 
mechanisms  and  thus  producing  (in  restricted  form)  a  multiple 
number  of  pages  at  one  time.  He  was  unable,  however,  to  develop 
his  plans  to  any  practical  result ;  but  deserves  the  credit  of  being  the 
first  to  patent,  if  not  to  conceive,  the  idea  of  the  association  of 
printed  sheets  for  this  purpose. 

In  the  various  experiments  of  Hoe  &  Co.  bearing  upon  the 
manipulation  of  webs  of  paper  some  of  their  devices  appeared  to 
encroach  upon  patents  secured  by  Luther  C.  Crowell,  inventor,  of 
Boston,  who  had  made  an  ingenious  machine  for  forming  paper  bags. 
These  patents  were  immediately  secured  by  purchase  and  the  experi- 
mental work  proceeded  with  the  view  of  adapting  some  of  them  to 


DOUBLE    SUPPLEMENT     PRESS 

the  requirements  of  the   printing  prt  After    many  efforts,  and 

the  failure  and  destruction  of  several  machines  which  had  been  con- 
structed at  great  expense,  the  Hoe  "  Double  Supplement  "  machine 
was  produced,  the  first  one  being  purchased  by  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett of  the  New  York  "  Herald  "  and  put  to  work  in  his  office. 
The  result  of  these  efforts  has  been,  for  a  third  time,  a  complete 
revolution  of  the  methods  of  fast  newspaper  printing.  The  most 
remarkable  features  of  this  machine  are:  Its  extreme  simplicity, 
considering  the  varied  work  it  performs,  and  its  great  speed,  accuracy 
and  efficiency.  It  turns  out  either  four,  six,  eight,  ten  or  twelve 
page  papers  at  24,000  per  hour,  and  sixteen  page  papers  at  12,000 
per  hour  ;  the  odd  pages  being  in  every  case  accurately  inserted  and 
pasted  in,  and  the  papers  cut  at  top  and  delivered  folded.  This 
machine  is  constructed  in  two  parts,  the  cylinders  in  one  portion  being 
twice  the  length  of  those  in  the  other;  the  short  cylinders  being 
used  for  the  supplements  of  the  paper  when  it  is  desired  to  print  more 
than  eight  pages.  The  plates  being  secured  on  the  cylinders,  the 
paper  enters  from  the  two  rolls  into  the  two  portions  of  the  machine, 
through  each  of  which  it  is  carried  between  the  two  pairs  of  type 
and  impression  cylinders,  and  printed  on  both  sides,  after  which  the 
two  broad  ribbons  or  "webs"  pass  over  turning  bars  and  other 
devices,  by  which  they  are  laid  evenly  one  over  the  other,  and 
pasted  together.  The  webs  of  paper  then  pass  down  upon  a  triang- 
ular "  former,"  which  folds  them  along  the  center  margin.  They 
are  then  taken  over  a  cylinder,  from  which  they  receive  the  final 
fold,  a  revolving  blade  within  this  cylinder  projecting  and  thrusting 
the  paper  between  folding  rollers,  while  at  the  same  moment  a  knife 
in  the  same  cylinder  severs  the  sheet,  and  a  rapidly  revolving  mech- 
anism, resembling  in  its  motion  the  fingers  of  a  hand,  causes  their 
accurate  disposal  upon  traveling  belts,  which  convey  them  on  for 
final  removal.  From  this  rather  summary  description  it  will  be 
apparent  that  the  principle  of  retaining  the  paper  in  the  web,  or  unsev- 

S1 


53 


57 


QJJ  ADRUPLE    PRESS 

ered  form,  up  to  the  final  fold  and  delivery,  and  performing  all 
the  operations  without  retarding  the  onward  run  of  the  paper, 
effectually  prevents  chokes  or  stoppages  through  any  miscarriage 
of  sheets  severed  before  the  folding.  Several  hundred  of  these 
machines  have  been  made  and  put  in  operation  by  the  United  States  ; 
and  in  offices  of  the  large  newspapers  in  Great  Britain  and  other 
countries. 

Previous  to  the  introduction  of  the  "  Double  Supplement  " 
press,  however,  Hoe  &  Co.  had  made  what  is  known  as  the  "  Double 
Perfecting"  machine.  The  success  of  this  press,  which  embraces 
substantially  the  printing  and  folding  devices  embodied  in  the  "  Double 
Supplement "  machine,  was  the  connecting  link  between  the  ordi- 
nary "  single  "  or  two-page-wide  press  and  the  "  Double  Supplement " 
machine. 

The  next  improvement  in  fast  presses  was  the  construction  of 
the  machine  known  as  the  "  Quadruple  "  Newspaper  Press.  This 
was  a  step  in  advance  of  anything  heretofore  attempted.  The 
first  one  was  constructed  in  1887  and  placed  in  the  office  of  the  New 
York  "  World."  The  same  principles  were  embraced  in  this  as  in 
the  "  Double  Supplement,"  but  developed  to  a  greater  extent.  The 
supplement  portion  of  the  press  was  increased  in  width.  By  means 
of  ingenious  arrangements  and  manipulation  of  the  webs  of  paper 
this  press  was  made  to  produce  eight-page  papers  at  a  running  speed 
of  48,000  per  hour  ;  also  24,000  per  hour  of  either  ten,  twelve, 
fourteen  or  sixteen  page  papers  ;  all  delivered  with  great  exactness 
and  perfection  ;  cut  at  the  top,  pasted  and  folded  ready  for  the  carrier 
or  the  mails. 

Another  form  of  the  Double  Supplement  and  Quadruple  ma- 
chines, embodying  substantially  the  same  principles,  is  what  has 
been  termed  the  "straight-line"  press.  In  this  form  of  construc- 
tion the  cylinders  are  arranged  in  horizontal  rows,  or  tiers,  one 
above  the  other,  there  being  two  pairs  of  cylinders  in  each  tier, 

59 


SEXTUPLE    PRESS 

with  the  folding  and  delivery  apparatus  at  the  end  of  the  machine. 
Some  of  these  presses,  made  under  the  patent  of  Joseph  L.  Finn, 
and  which  belong  to  R.  Hoe  &  Co.,  have  been  constructed. 

It  was  thought  that  the  limit  of  printing  capacity  in  one 
machine  had  been  reached  in  this  new  invention,  but  in  1889  the 
same  firm  undertook  the  task  of  constructing  a  machine  for  Mr. 
Bennett  of  the  "  New  York  Herald,"  which  would  even  eclipse  the 
"  Quadruple"  machine,  which  had,  together  with  the  "  Double  Sup- 
plement "  press,  superseded  almost  all  others  in  the  large  offices  of 
the  United  States,  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain  and  Australia.  The 
press  made  for  the  "  New  York  Herald  "  and  known  as  the  "  Sex- 
tuple "  machine,  occupied  about  eighteen  months  in  construction. 
It  is  composed  of  about  sixteen  thousand  pieces.  The  general 
arrangement  differs  entirely  from  that  of  the  "Quadruple  "  machine. 
The  form  and  impression  cylinders  are  all  placed  parallel,  instead  of 
any  being  at  right  angles  as  in  the  "Quadruple  "  and  "  Double  Sup- 
plement "  Presses.  To  give  an  idea  of  this  machine,  we  cannot  do 
better  than  to  quote  the  description  of  it  in  the  "  New  York  Herald  " 
of  May  loth,  1891. 

"  The  new  Hoe  press  which  is  being  set  up  in  the  '  Herald ,' 
Building  is  nothing  less  than  a  miracle  of  mechanism.  To  say 
that  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  kind  ever  built  and  that  it  throws  all 
previous  inventions  into  the  background  are  facts  which  the  follow- 
ing figures  abundantly  prove. 

"  Its  consumption  of  white  paper  is  so  astounding  that  even  the 
imagination  grows  tired  and  sits  down  to  catch  its  breath.  It  is  fed 
from  three  rolls,  each  being  more  than  five  feet  wide.  When  it 
settles  down  to  show  its  best  work  it  will  use  up  in  one  hour  nearly 
twenty-six  miles  of  this  paper,  or  to  make  the  matter  more  signifi- 
cant, it  will  use  up  about  fifty-two  miles  of  paper  the  ordinary  width 
of  the  *  Herald '  every  sixty  minutes. 

"  Our  readers  will  be  startled  to  learn  that  it  can  print  and  fold 

60 


SEXTUPLE    PRESS 

ninety  thousand  four-page  *  Heralds  '  in  an  hour.  This  is,  to  the 
mind,  which  is  not  versed  in  the  problem  of  rapid  printing,  a  feat 
which  makes  Aladdin's  lamp  an  old  woman's  fable.  Ninety  thou- 
sand per  hour  means  fifteen  hundred  copies  per  minute,  or  twenty- 
five  copies  for  every  second  of  time  ticked  by  the  clock  in  Trinity's 
steeple. 

"  It  is,  of  course,  the  last  and  best  result  of  modern  invention — 
the  highest  attainment  of  genius  at  the  present  time. 

"  This  new  press  will  print,  cut,  paste,  fold,  count  and  deliver 
72,000  eight-page  '  Heralds  '  in  one  hour,  which  is  equivalent  to 
1,200  a  minute  and  20  a  second. 

"  It  will  print,  cut,  paste,  fold,  count  and  deliver  complete  48,000 
ten  or  twelve-page  '  Heralds '  in  one  hour,  which  is  equivalent  to 
800  a  minute  and  a  fraction  over  i  3  a  second. 

"  It  will  print,  cut,  paste,  fold,  count  and  deliver  complete  36,000 
sixteen-page  '  Heralds '  an  hour,  which  is  at  the  rate  of  600  a 
minute  or  10  a  second. 

"It  will  print,  cut,  paste,  fold,  count  and  deliver  complete 
24,000  fourteen,  twenty  or  twenty-four  page  '  Heralds '  an  hour, 
which  is  at  the  rate  of  400  a  minute,  or  very  nearly  seven  a  second. 

"This  is  lightning  work  with  a  vengeance  and  yet  it  is  possible 
that  there  may  be  some  who  read  this  who  will  live  to  call  it  slow. 
That  will  probably  be  when  they  have  found  out  all  about  how  to 
put  a  harness  on  electricity.  No  one  can  predict  when  inventive 
genius  will  reach  its  limit  in  the  printing  press.  But  for  the  present 
this  new  press  marks  high  water  mark. 

"  Before  this  press  was  built  the  fastest  presses  in  the  world 
were  Hoe's  'Quadruple'  Presses,  of  which  the  *  Herald'  has  two. 
These  presses  turn  out  48,000  four,  six  or  eight-page  papers  an  hour, 
24,000  ten,  twelve,  fourteen  or  sixteen-page  papers  an  hour,  and 
1 2,000  twenty  or  twenty-four-page  papers  an  hour,  all  cut,  pasted 
and  folded. 

63 


SEXTUPLE     PRESS 

"This  new  press  has  a  well-nigh  insatiable  appetite  for  white 
paper.  To  satisfy  it,  it  is  fed  from  three  rolls  at  the  same  time,  one 
roll  being  attached  at  either  end  of  the  press  and  the  third  suspended 
near  the  center.  It  is  the  only  press  that  has  ever  been  able  to 
accomplish  that  feat.  Each  roll  is  sixty-three  inches  wide,  or  twice 
the  width  of  the  *  Herald.'  When  doing  its  best  this  press  will 
consume  25  7*  miles  of  sixty-three-inch-wide  paper — equivalent  to 
51  ^4  miles  of  paper  the  width  of  the  '- Herald' — in  one  hour,  and 
eject  it  at  the  two  deliveries  in  the  shape  of  *  Heralds,'  each  copy 
containing  an  epitome  of  the  news  of  the  world  for  the  preceding 
twenty-four  hours,  and  each  copy  cut,  pasted  and  folded  ready  for 
delivery  to  the  *  Herald '  readers.  It  is  a  sight  worth  seeing  to 
see  it  done.  Certainly  we  know  of  nothing  else  which  affords  such 
a  striking  example  of  the  triumph  of  mechanical  genius. 

"  A  man  turns  a  lever,  shafts  and  cylinders  begin  to  revolve, 
the  whirring  noise  settles  into  a  steady  roar,  you  see  three  streams 
of  white  paper  pouring  into  the  machine  from  the  three  huge  rolls, 
and  you  pass  around  to  the  other  side — it  is  literally  snowing  news- 
papers at  each  of  the  two  delivery  outlets.  So  fast  does  one  paper 
follow  the  other  that  you  catch  only  a  momentary  glitter  from  the 
deft  steel  fingers  that  seize  the  papers  and  cast  them  out. 

"  The  machine  weighs  about  fifty-eight  tons.  It  is  massive 
and  strong,  with  the  strength  of  a  thousand  giants.  And  yet 
though  its  arms  are  of  steel  and  its  motions  are  all  as  rapid  as  light- 
ning, its  touch  is  as  tender  as  that  of  a  woman  when  she  carries  her 
babe.  How  else  does  the  machine  avoid  tearing  the  paper  ?  It 
tears  very  readily,  as  you  often  ascertain  accidentally  when  turning 
over  the  leaves.  Truly  wonderful  it  is,  and  mysterious  to  anybody 
but  an  expert,  how  this  huge  machine  can  make  newspapers  at  the 
rate  of  twenty-five  a  second  without  rending  the  paper  all  to  shreds. 

"  It  has  six  plate  cylinders,  each  cylinder  carrying  eight  stereo- 
type plates,  which  represent  eight  pages  of  the  '  Herald,'  and  six 


SEXTUPLE    PRESS 

impression  cylinders.  These  cylinders,  when  the  press  is  working 
at  full  speed  make  200  revolutions  a  minute.  The  period  of  con- 
tact between  the  paper  and  the  plate  cylinders  is  therefore  incon- 
ceivably brief,  and  how  in  that  fractional  space  of  time  a  perfect 
impression  is  made,  even  to  the  reproduction  of  such  fine  lines  as 
are  shown  in  these  illustrations,  is  one  of  those  things  which,  to 
the  man  who  is  not  'up'  in  mechanics,  must  forever  remain  a 
mystery.  But  that  it  does  it  you  know,  because  you  have  the  evi- 
dence of  your  own  eyes 

"  A  double  folder  forms  part  of  this  machine.  A  single  folder 
would  not  be  equal  to  the  task  imposed  upon  it.  As  it  is,  this 
double  folder  has  to  exercise  such  celerity  to  keep  up  with  the 
streams  of  printed  paper  that  descend  upon  it  that  its  operations  are 
too  quick  for  the  eye  to  follow. 

"The  press  has  two  delivery  outlets.  At  each  the  papers  are 
automatically  counted  in  piles  of  fifty.  No  matter  how  rapidly  the 
papers  come  out,  there  is  never  a  mistake  in  the  count.  It  is  as  sure 
as  fate.  By  an  ingenious  contrivance — if  I  should  attempt  to 
describe  it  more  definitely  most  people  would  be  none  the  wiser — 
each  fiftieth  paper  is  shoved  out  an  inch  beyond  the  others  that 
have  been  dropped  onto  the  receiving  tapes,  thus  serving  as  a  sort  of 
tally  mark. 

"Truly  it  is  a  marvelous  machine — this  Sextuple  press.  No- 
where will  you  find  a  more  perfect  adaption  of  means  to  ends; 
nowhere  in  any  branch  of  industry  a  piece  of  mechanism  which 
offers  a  finer  example  of  what  human  skill  and  ingenuity  is  capable 
of.  And  it  is  free  from  that  reproach  which  is  sometimes  brought 
against  the  greatest  triumph  of  inventive  genius  in  other  depart- 
ments of  human  activity — that  they  make  mere  automatons  out  of 
human  beings. 

"  The  printing  press  is  synonymous  with  progress,  with  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  and  the  spread  of  ideas.  Without  the  great 

65 


APPLETON     ROTARY     HOOK     PRESS 

improvements  that  have  been  made  in  it  within  the  memory  of 
many  men  now  living  the  modern  newspaper,  the  best  friend  of 
liberty,  and  the  greatest  toe  of  tyranny,  would  be  an  impossibility. 
It  has  more  than  kept  pace  with  the  advancement  in  other  depart- 
ments of  industry.  In  1829  the  Washington  Hand  Press  was 
introduced  and  regarded  as  quite  a  mechanical  triumph.  At  its  In-xt 
it  printed  250  impressions  an  hour  on  one  side,  or  i  25  complete 
newspapers  of  insignificant  dimensions.  Now,  a  little  over  sixty 
years  later,  a  machine  is  brought  out  which,  when  the  number  of 
papers  alone  is  compared,  does  150  times  as  much  work  in  the  same 
time,  and  which,  if  the  comparison  is  extended  to  the  actual  amount 
of  printing  done,  does  over  2,000  times  as  much  work." 

About  1871  a  machine  called  the  "Prestonian"  was  made  by 
Foster,  a  machinist  of  Preston,  England,  and  two  or  three  were 
set  to  work,  but  did  not  enjoy  any  great  degree  of  favor.  They 
embodied  a  combination  of  the  "Hoe  Type  Revolving  Machine" 
with  the  "endless  sheet  perfecting  press."  The  form  of  type  for 
one  side  of  the  paper  was  placed  upon  one  cylinder,  with  impression 
cylinders  around  it,  in  the  manner  of  the  Hoe  press,  and  the  form 
for  the  other  side  on  another  cylinder,  and  the  paper  passed  from 
one  set  of  impression  cylinders  to  the  other.  The  principal  objec- 
tion to  this  machine  was  its  lack  of  speed.  The  same  principle, 
however,  had  been  developed  years  before  in  the  "type  revolving 
perfecting"  presses  (made  by  Hoe  &  Co.)  which  have  two  sets  of 
type  forms  on  separate  large  cylinders,  the  sheets  being  fed  in  by 
hand  and  conveyed  from  one  impression  cylinder  to  the  other  and 
against  the  forms  by  means  of  fingers  or  grippers.  The  sheets  were 
then  delivered  on  a  sheet  flier.  These  presses  were  especially  de- 
signed for  printing  books,  of  which  large  numbers  were  required, 
such  as  text  books  and  spelling  books.  The  contents  of  a  whole 
book  could  be  placed  on  these  cylinders  and  printed  and  delivered 
at  one  impression.  One  of  these  machines  constructed  in  1852 

66 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING    WEB     PRESS 

(fifty  years  ago)  is  still  in  operation  at  Messrs.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.'s 
printing  office  in  Brooklyn,  as  active  and  efficient  as  ever. 

In  1 88 1  Hoe  &  Co.  turned  their  attention  to  the  making  of  a 
machine  which  should  print  FROM  ONE  FORM  OF  TYPE  at  a  greater 
speed  than  had  ever  yet  been  attained.  The  result  was  the  "Ro- 
tary Type  Endless-sheet  Perfecting  Press."  The  principle  of  this 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING    WEB    PERFECTING    PRESS 


machine  was  in  a  measure  that  of  their  "Type-Revolving"  press. 
The  forms  of  type  for  both  sides  of  the  paper  were  placed  on  a 
central  cylinder,  which  was  surrounded  by  impression  cylinders  and 
inking  rollers. 

There,  were,  however,  no  feeders  and  no  grippers.  The  roll  of 
paper  was  placed  at  the  end  of  the  press,  passed  around  the  impres- 
sion cylinders  arranged  at  one  side  of  the  form  cylinder,  and  then 
turned  upside  down  at  the  lower  part  of  the  machine,  thence  being 
carried  upwards.  The  opposite  or  unprinted  side  was  presented  in 
turn  between  each  impression  cylinder  and  the  forms.  If  fourimpres- 


ROTARY    TYPE-REVOLVING    WEB    PRESS 

sion  cylinders  were  placed  around  the  central  cylinder  then  at  each 
revolution  of  the  latter  four. perfect  papers  were  printed.  It  eight 
impression  cylinders  were  placed  around  the  central  cylinder  then 
eight  perfect  papers  were  printed  at  one  revolution  of  the  main  or 
form  cylinder.  The  speed  attained  by  this  machine  with  four  impres- 
sion cylinders  was  about  i  2,000  per  hour,  and  from  machines  with 
eight  impression  cylinders  24,000  copies  per  hour  were  printed. 
This  press  was  especially  adapted  for  afternoon  papers  when  the  time 
or  expense  necessarily  involved  in  stereotyping  could  not  be  afforded. 
The  majority  of  the  machines  made  were  provided  with  four  impres- 
sion cylinders  only.  In  the  machines  with  eight  impression  cylinders 
two  rolls  were  used,  one  at  either  end  of  the  machine,  the  paper 
from  each  roll  passing  under  the  two  first  impression  cylinders  on 
either  side,  each  web  then  being  turned  over,  and  paper  passed  be- 
tween the  two  remaining  cylinders  on  either  side  to  print  the  oppo- 
site sides  of  the  sheets. 

In  this  machine  a  folding  apparatus  was  placed  at  each  end  to 
receive  the  product  of  the  rolls,  but  in  the  machine  with  four  impres- 
sion cylinders  only  one  folder  was  placed,  at  the  end  of  the  machine 
opposite  that  at  which  the  paper  entered. 

The  experience  gained  in  the  construction  of  these  fast  news- 
paper machines,  and  the  accumulation  of  patented  devices  entering 
into  them,  which  were  numbered  by  the  score,  had  their  influence 
in  the  improvements  which  were  made  upon  presses  for  the  printing 
of  weekly  newspapers,  periodicals  and  magazines. 

In  1888  was  introduced  a  patented  Hoe  machine  called  the 
"Three-page-wide  Press."  It  has  a  capacity  of  printing,  perfecting 
and  delivering  two-page  papers,  with  one  fold,  at  the  rate  of  60,000 
per  hour  ;  four-page  papers,  with  two  folds,  at  24,000  per  hour,  six- 
page  papers  at  24,000  per  hour;  eight-page  papers,  folded  twice,  or  to 
carrier  size,  at  I  2,000  per  hour,  and  twelve-page  papers,  folded  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  eight-page,  at  the  same  speed,  viz.,  I  2,000 

70 


THREE-PAGE    WIDE     PRESS 

per  hour;  all  the  supplement  sheets  being  inset  and  pasted  if  de- 
sired. 

The  prominent  features  of  this  machine  are : 

The  outside  pages  may  receive  the  first  or  the  last  impression 


THREE  PAGE    WIDE    PRESS 


at  will,  thus  enabling  large  cuts  and  other  similar  work  to  be  printed 
without  offset. 

Grippers  and  horizontal  folding  knives  and  all  tapes  but  short 
leaders  are  done  away  with  in  the  delivery  and  folding  mechanisms, 
the  movements  being  all  rotary. 

The  press  occupies  but  a  small  space  on  the  floor,  being 
6  feet  i  inch  high,  8  feet  wide  and  1 5  feet  5  inches  long 
over  all. 

In  1889  Hoe  &  Co.  constructed  a  patented  perfecting  machine 
in  which  the  plates,  or  forms,  for  both  sides  are  placed  upon  one 
cylinder,  one  side  of  the  form  of  matter  being  placed  upon  one  end, 


THREE- PAGE     \\IDK     PRESS 

or  half  of  the  cylinder,  and  the  other  side  upon  the  opposite  portion 
of  the  cylinder.  One  imprevion  cylinder  only  is  used,  and  the 
inking  apparatus  is  greatly  extended.  This  machine  is  remarkable 
for  the  great  variety  of  work  it  will  do.  At  a  high  rate  of  speed, 
sheets  of  eight,  sixteen,  twenty-four  and  so  on  up  to  ninety-six  or 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  pages  may  be  printed  and  delivered 
folded  in  either  I  2mo,  8vo,  410  or  folio  sizes,  ready  for  the  binder. 
The  press  does  the  work  of  ten  flat-bed  cylinder  presses  and  ten 
hand-feed  folding  machines.  The  paper  is  supplied  to  the  machine 
from  the  roll,  and  after  printing  passes  over  the  "former"  into  the 
folding  machine,  where  the  folding  and  cutting  cylinders  produce 
the  required  number  of  pages  in  the  form  desired.  Curved  electro- 
types are  now  made  successfully  and  this  press  was  the  first  to 
bring  the  printing  of  the  average  book  and  catalogue  within  the 
range  of  web  press  work.  While  in  general  principles  this  machine 
is  similar  to  the  large  newspaper  perfecting  presses,  though  very 
much  smaller  in  bulk,  it  has  increased  facilities  for  distribution,  and 
finer  adjustments  throughout.  The  plates  admit  of  underlays  and 
overlays  the  same  as  on  a  flat-bed  press.  There  are  no  tapes,  the 
folding  being  done  on  rollers  and  small  cylinders  without  smutting 
the  printing.  In  the  folding  apparatus  there  are  knives  which  cut 
the  sheet  into  the  right  size  for  folding,  after  which  they  are  au- 
tomatically delivered  counted  in  lots  of  fifty  each.  The  speed  on  a 
thirty-two  page  form  is  about  16,000  copies  per  hour.  This  style 
of  machine  is  probably  destined  to  revolutionize  book  and  pamph- 
let printing,  as  it  combines  the  finest  construction  and  facility  of 
operation  with  the  greatest  speed. 

In  1886  a  further  advance  was  made  toward  perfection  in  the 
rotary  system  of  printing  as  adapted  to  doing  fine  work,  in  the  construc- 
tion for  Theodore  L.  De  Vinne,  the  printer  of  the  "  Century"  Maga- 
zine, by  Hoe  &  Co.,  of  a  perfecting  press  to  do  the  plain 
forms  of  that  periodical.  The  machine  was  described  in  the 

7* 


NEWSPAPER    AND     PAMPHLET     PRESS 


NEWSPAPER    AND    PAMPHLET    PRESS 


magazine,    in  an   article   written  by   Mr.    De   Vinne,    here  quoted 
from: 

(Extract  from  article  published  in  the  u  Century"  Magazine,  November,  1890.) 

"At  the  end  of  a  long  row  of  machinery  stands  the  web  press 
— a  massive  and  complicated  construction,  especially  built  by  Hoe  & 
Co.  for  printing,  cutting  and  folding  the  plain  and  advertising  pages 
of  the  *  Century.'  Web  presses  for  newspapers  are  common  enough, 
but  this  press  has  distinction  as  the  first,  and  for  three  years  the  only, 
web  press  used  in  this  country,  for  good  book  work.  At  one  end 
of  the  machine  is  a  great  roll  of  paper  more  than  two  miles  long 
when  unwound,  and  weighing  about  750  pounds.  As  the  paper  un- 
winds it  passes  first  over  a  jet  of  steam  which  slightly  dampens  and 
softens  its  hard  surface  and  fits  it  for  receiving  impressions,  without 
leaving  it  wet  or  sodden.  It  passes  under  a  plate  cylinder,  on  which 
are  thirty-two  curved  plates,  inked  by  seven  large  rollers,  which  print 
thirty-two  pages  on  one  side.  Then  it  passes  around  a  reversing  cyl- 


NEWSPAPER     AND     PAMPHLET     P  R  K  S  S 

inder  which  presents  the  other  side  ot"  the  paper  to  another  plate  cyl- 
inder, on  which  are  thirty-two  plates  which  print  exactly  on  the  back 
the  proper  pages  for  the  thirty-two  previously  printed.  ThU  i*  done 
quickly — in  less  than  two  seconds — but  with  exactness.  But  the  web 
ot" paper  is  still  uncut.  To  do  this  it  is  drawn  upward  under  a  small 
cylinder  containing  a  concealed  knife,  which  cuts  the  printed  web  in 
strips  two  leave>  wide  and  four  leaves  long.  As  soon  as  cut  the  sheets 
are  thrown  forward  on  endless  belts  of  tape.  An  ingenious  but  unde- 
tectable  mechanism  gives  to  every  alternate  sheet  a  quicker  move- 
ment, so  that  it  falls  exactly  over  its  predecessor,  making  two  lapped 
strips  of  paper.  Busy  little  adjusters  now  come  in  play,  placing  these 
lapped  sheets  of  paper  accurately  up  to  a  head  and  a  side  guide. 
Without  an  instant  of  delay  down  comes  a  strong  creasing  blade  over 
the  long  center  of  the  sheet,  and  pushes  it  out  of  sight.  Pulleys  at 
once  seize  the  creased  sheet  and  press  it  flat,  in  which  shape  it  is 
hurried  forward  to  meet  three  circular  knives  on  one  shaft,  which 
cut  it  across  in  four  equal  pieces.  Disappearing  for  an  instant  from 
view,  it  comes  out  on  the  other  side  of  the  upper  end  of  the  tail  of 
the  press  in  the  form  of  four  folded  sections  of  eight  pages  each. 
Immediately  after,  at  the  lower  end  of  the  tail  of  the  press,  out  come 
four  entirely  different  sections  of  eight  pages  each.  This  duplicate 
delivery  shows  the  product  of  the  press  to  be  at  every  revolution  of 
the  cylinder  sixty-four  pages,  neatly  printed,  truly  cut,  and  accurately 
registered  and  folded,  ready  for  the  binder.  Two  boys  are  kept  fully 
employed  in  seizing  the  folded  sections  and  putting  them  in  box 
trucks,  by  which  they  are  rolled  out  to  the  elevator,  and  on  these  sent 
to  the  bindery.  This  web  press  is  not  so  fast  as  the  web  press  of 
daily  newspapers,  but  it  performs  more  operations  and  does  more  accur- 
ate work.  It  is  not  a  large  machine,  nor  is  it  noisy,  nor  does  it  seem 
to  be  moving  fast,  but  the  paper  goes  through  the  cylinders  at 
the  rate  of  nearly  two  hundred  feet  a  minute.  It  does  ten  times 
as  much  work  as  the  noisier  and  more  bustling  presses  by  its  side." 

74 


ROTARY     ART     PRESS 

The  success  of  this  perfecting  press  induced  the  makers  to  de- 
vise a  machine  on  the  rotary  principle  adapted  for  the  finest  kind  of 
illustrations  —  in  short,  to  make  a  press  which  should  do  work  as  fine 
as  it  was  possible  to  do  on  the  hand  press  or  the  stop  cylinder.  The 
result  was  the  setting  up,  in  1890,  at  the  De  Vinne  Press,  of  a 


ROTARY    ART    PRESS 


machine  known  as  the  "  Rotary  Art "  press.  This  machine  is 
described  in  the  "Century"  of  November,  1890,  as  follows: — 
"  Sixty-four  plates  of  the  '  Century,'  truly  bent  to  the  proper  curve, 
are  firmly  fastened  on  one  cylinder  sixty  inches  long,  and  about 
thirty  inches  in  diameter;  sixteen  inking  rollers,  supplied  with  ink 
from  two  fountains,  successfully  ink  these  sixty-four  plates  with  a 
delicacy  and  yet  with  a  fullness  of  color  never  before  attained.  The 
shafts  of  the  impression  cylinder  and  the  plate  cylinders,  4^  inches 
in  diameter,  do  not  give  or  spring  under  the  strongest  impression. 

75 


"TIT- BITS"     PRESS 

Although  rigid  in  every  part,  in  the  hands  of  an  expert  pressman  it 
can  be  made  responsive  to  the  slightest  overlay.  This  machine  is 
fed  by  four  feeders  from  single  sheets  in  the  usual  manner,  and  does 
the  work  of  four  stop  cylinders  in  superior  style.  The  gain  in 
performance  is  not  as  great  as  the  gain  in  quality  of  presswork,  but 
quality  was  considered  more  than  speed.  The  performance  of  the 
machine  could  have  been  more  than  doubled  by  adding  to  it  other 
cylinders  which  would  print  on  both  sides  of  the  paper;  but  careful 
experiment  has  proved  that  the  finest  woodcuts  cannot  be  properly 
printed  with  this  rapidity.  To  get  the  best  results  the  ink  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  must  be  dry  before  it  is  printed  on  the  other  side." 
Among  the  most  interesting  modern  printing  machines  are 
those  constructed  by  Hoe  &  Co.  at  their  London  works,  after  draw- 
ings and  patterns  sent  from  New  York,  for  weekly  English  jour- 
nals, such  as  "Tit-Bits,"  "Sunday  Stories,"  and  similar  periodicals. 
These  machines  embody  to  a  certain  extent  the  principles  of  the 
"Double  Supplement"  press  before  referred  to.  Double  sets  of 
plates  are  placed  upon  the  main  machine,  which  is  capable  of 
taking  on  an  aggregate  of  twenty-four  pages;  and  by  using  nar- 
rower rolls  the  number  of  pages  of  the  body  of  the  journal  may 
be  reduced  to  sixteen  or  twenty,  so  that  the  publisher  may  have 
the  option  of  printing  his  paper  either  sixteen,  twenty  or  twenty-four 
pages.  In  addition  to  this  it  prints  a  cover  on  a  different  colored  paper, 
and  all  at  the  rate  of  24,000  copies  per  hour;  the  whole  product,  in- 
cluding the  cover,  being  cut  on  the  edges  and  pasted  together  at  the 
back.  The  supplement  or  cover  of  the  press  portion,  however,  instead 
of  having  two  pairs  of  cylinders,  as  in  the  "Double  Supplement" 
machine,  consists  of  one  form  cylinder  and  one  impression  cylinder. 
This  portion  of  the  machine  prints  the  cover,  which  is  fed  from  a 
narrower  roll,  and,  as  before  stated,  of  an  entirely  different  color 
or  quality  of  paper  from  the  body  of  the  journal.  The  form  for  one 
side  of  the  cover  is  placed  on  one  end  of  the  form  cylinder,  and 

76 


77 


79 


OCTUPLE    PRESS 

that  for  th^  other  side  on  the  other  end  of  the  cylinder.  This 
ingenious  combination  results  in  the  printing  of  one  cover  to  every 
copy  of  the  journal  issued  and  no  more. 

The  demand  for  printed  matter  seems  to  increase  with  the 
ability  to  furnish  it,  and  much  attention  is  now  being  directed  to 
the  subject  of  color  printing  on  the  rotary  system.  From  present 
appearances,  and  from  the  enterprise  displayed  by  the  publisher,  the 
artist  and  the  press  maker,  it  would  seem  as  though  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  this  subject  alone  would  furnish  matter  for  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  printing  press. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  give  in  a  short  article  even  a  summary  of 
the  various  kinds  of  machines  to  print  newspapers  of  various  sizes, 
in  black  as  well  as  in  colors,  weekly  periodicals,  magazines,  books, 
pamphlets,  in  short  every  class  of  printing,  in  connection  with  fold- 
ing, which  have  been  evolved  and  perfected  up  to  the  present  time. 
The  work  still  goes  on,  one  step  in  advance  leading  to  another,  until 
now  a  printer  can  obtain  a  great  variety  of  machines  to  print  from 
the  roll  or  fed  from  separate  sheets,  and  which,  especially  in  the 
production  of  large  numbers,  economize  both  time  and  labor.  Nor 
is  this  constant  advance  in  mechanical  construction  confined  to  the 
machines  themselves  or  the  manipulation  of  the  paper.  It  extends 
to  the  manufacture  of  the  paper  and  the  inks,  although  the  manu- 
facturers of  the  latter  have  not  advanced  in  the  same  proportion  as 
the  paper-maker,  who  every  year  produces  finer  paper  in  the  roll 
and  in  greater  quantities  than  ever  before. 

The  latest  and  most  elaborate  newspaper  machine  is  the  Oc- 
tuple Perfecting  Press  with  Folders,  which  prints  from  four  rolls, 
each  four  pages  wide,  and  gives  (from  the  four  deliveries)  a  running 
speed  per  hour  of:  96,000  4,  6  or  8-page  papers;  72,000  ro-page 
papers;  60,000  1 2-page  papers;  48,000  14  or  1 6-page  papers; 
42,000  1 8-page  papers;  36,000  2o-page  papers;  24,000  24-page 
papers. 

li 


DOUBLE    SEXTUPLE     PRESS 

This  machine  has  been  further  developed  into  the  Improved 
Combination  Octuple  (or  Double  Quadruple)  and  Color  Machine, 
lately  patented  by  R.  Hoe  6c  Co.,  which,  in  addition  to  giving  the 
above  mentioned  output  when  printing  in  black  only,  will  also  pro- 
duce papers  in  colors  at  the  rate  per  hour  of:  96,000  4-pages  ; 
48,0006,  8,  10,  12,  1 4  or  i  6  pages;  24,000  18,  20,  24  or  28  pages. 

R.  Hoe  &  Co.  have  now  in  process  of  construction  four  mam- 
moth printing  machines,  which  will  give  a  greater  product  and  a 
greater  variety  of  products  than  any  machines  that  have  hitherto 
been  devised.  Thev  are  Double  Sextuple  Presses  and  so  called, 
but  in  reality  are  much  more  than  this,  inasmuch  as  they  combine 
the  ability  to  do  printing  in  colors  as  well  as  in  black.  This  machine 
is  composed,  so  to  speak,  of  two  separate,  complete  printing  me- 
chanisms, each  fed  from  three  four-page-wide  rolls  of  paper;  the 
apparatus  for  the  gathering  and  folding  of  these  webs  of  paper  after 
printing  being  in  the  centre  between  the  two  sections  of  the  ma- 
chine. The  "formers"  and  folders  (placed  back  to  back)  enable 
a  manipulation  or  gathering  of  the  webs  which  could  not  be  readily 
obtained  in  any  other  way.  All  these  devices  and  methods  have 
been  patented  by  Hoe  &  Co.  The  following  is  a  summary  descrip- 
tion of  these  new  machines  and  what  they  will  accomplish.  The 
two  sections  may  be  used  separately  if  desired,  as  independent  ma- 
chines. 

Each  of  the  two  portions  of  the  machine  is  composed  of  six 
pairs  of  cylinders,  arranged,  with  their  axles  parallel,  in  three  tiers 
of  two  pairs  each  and  printing  on  both  sides  (or  perfecting)  three 
webs  of  paper  from  separate  rolls,  each  four  -pages  wide.  One  of  the 
sections  is  also  arranged  so  that  all  six  sets  of  cylinders  will  print 
upon  a  single  web  in  colors  and  black,  this  web  being  associated 
with  the  three  webs  from  the  other  portion  to  form  a  colored  cover 
for  the  products,  when  required. 

The  rolls  of  paper  are  placed  at  the  end  of  the  machine — 

81 


DOUBLE    SEXTUPLE    PRESS 

three  at  each  end — and  the  two  folders  tor  each  portion  are  placed 
back  to  back  midway  in  the  length  of  the  machine.  The  runs  of 
all  the  webs  are  therefore  approximately  the  same  and  as  short  as  it 
is  possible  to  have  them — a  matter  of  much  importance  in  the 
running  of  multiple  webs. 

Altogether  there  are  twelve  plate  cylinders  in  the  machine, 
each  carrying  eight  plates  the  size  of  a  newspaper  page.  Either 
stereotype  or  electrotype  plates  may  be  used.  To  receive  the  latter, 
which  are  much  thinner  than  stereotype  plates,  special  base  or  jacket 
plates  are  secured  to  the  cylinders.  The  ink  is  applied  to  the  plates 
by  four  form  rollers,  after  having  been  thoroughly  distributed  by 
vibrating  rollers  and  cylinders. 

The  full  capacity  of  the  machine,  when  printing  all  black,  on 
six  rolls,  is  96,000  twelve-page  papers  per  hour,  and  other  numbers 
of  pages  at  proportionate  speeds,  namely,  four,  six,  eight  and  ten- 
page  papers,  at  the  same  speed  as  twelve-page ;  fourteen  and  sixteen- 
page  papers  at  72,000  per  hour  ;  eighteen,  twenty,  twenty-two  and 
twenty-four  page  papers  at  48,000  per  hour.  The  three  webs  from 
each  portion  of  the  machine  are  led  to  the  top  of  the  folders,  where 
they  are  divided  along  their  centre  line  into  webs  two  pages  wide, 
and  then  run  down  each  of  the  four  "  formers,"  by  which  they  are 
folded  along  their  centre.  They  are  then  led  through  cylinders 
which  cut  them  into  page  lengths  and  give  them  a  fold  across  the 
page  to  half-page  size.  In  this  way  twenty-four  page  papers  may 
be  obtained  at  the  rate  of  48,000  copies  per  hour,  by  collecting  two 
twelve-page  sections  on  the  cylinder  just  before  the  half-page  fold 
is  made.  Another  method  of  running  twenty-four  page  papers  is. 
to  associate  the  six  webs,  from  both  portions  of  the  machine,  and 
run  them  over  one  pair  of  "  formers,"  thus  folding  all  six  webs 
together,  or  insetting  them,  in  the  first  fold. 

Lesser  number  of  pages  may  be  obtained  by  making  various 
combinations,  the  number  of  which  is  almost  limitless.  Angle  bars 

85 


DOUBLE    SEXTUPLE     PRE>> 

are  placed  in  the  machine  tor  transferring  halt-width  webs  of  paper 
from  one  side  of  the  pros  to  the  otlier,  facilitating  these  combina- 
tions. 

The  maximum  product  of  the  machine  when  running  as  a 
color  press  is  48,000  sixteen-page  papers  per  hour,  with  the  two 
outside  pages  printed  in  four  colors  and  black  ;  the  other  pages  in 
black  only.  If,  however,  it  is  not  desired  to  have  so  many  colors  on 
the  outside  pages,  it  is  possible  to  obtain  twenty-page  papers,  at  the 
rate  of  48,000  per  hour,  with  the  two  outside  pages  in  two  colors 
and  black  ;  all  the  other  pages  in  black  only.  Papers  with  any 
number  of  pages  from  four  to  sixteen,  with  four  colors  and  black  on 
the  outside  pages,  the  other  pages  in  black  only,  can  be  obtained  at 
a  speed  of  48,000  per  hour.  By  running  the  full  product  of  the 
color  section  of  the  machine  into  one  folder  and  associating  there- 
with webs  of  paper  from  the  other  section  of  the  machine,  papers 
with  any  number  of  pages  from  eight  to  twenty-four,  with  the  two 
outside  pages  and  two  of  the  inside  pages  printed  in  four  colors  and 
black,  the  other  pages  in  black  only,  can  be  produced  at  a  speed  of 
24,000  per  hour. 

The  dimensions  of  this  machine  are  as  follows:  Length,  35 
feet;  height,  17  feet;  width,  9  feet;  the  weight,  about  225,000 
pounds  ;  and  the  number  of  parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  approx- 
imately 50,000. 

The  last  three  or  four  years  have  also  witnessed  an  immense 
advance  in  the  art  of  color  printing.  The  magazine  without  an  elab- 
orate color  cover,  or  perhaps  colored  illustrations,  is  now  an  excep- 
tion, whereas  it  was  the  reverse  not  long  ago.  After  satisfactory 
experiments  it  was  ascertained  by  the  writer  that,  with  the  inks  prop- 
erly prepared,  and  suitable  plates  to  print  from,  colors  could  be  printed 
almost  simultaneously  upon  the  paper,  without  mingling  ;  in  short 
that  the  supposed  necessity,  in  much  of  the  work  done,  of  drying  the 
sheets  after  the  impression  of  each  color  on  the  paper,  was  not  necessary 

86 


DOUBLE    SEXTUPLE     PRESS 

for  the  production  of  a  good  quality  of  printing.  Further  experiments 
also  proved  the  mechanical  possibility  of  obtaining  most  accurate 
register  in  printing  from  a  roll  and  that  the  number  of  impressions, 
or  colors,  could  be  increased  to  advantage.  These  various  experi- 
ments resulted  in  the  construction  by  Hoe  &  Co.  of  color  presses 
which  were  almost  simultaneously  installed  by  the  proprietors  of  the 
New  York  "Herald"  and  the  New  York  "World,"  who  com- 
menced the  publication  of  colored  supplements,  upon  a  system  which 
has  been  adopted  by  the  papers  in  most  of  the  large  cities,  and  which 
they  have  never  discontinued.  The  practicability  of  printing  in  colors 
has  been  so  fully  demonstrated  that  color  attachments  are  being  added 
to  very  many  of  the  large  newspaper  presses  throughout  the 
country. 

The  most  extensive  of  the  color  presses,  and  the  largest  print- 
ing machine  ever  constructed,  is  the  color  press  made  by  Hoe  &  Co. 
for  the  New  York  "Journal"  and  now  used  in  printing  portions  of  the 
Sunday  editions  of  that  paper,  although  others  of  approximate  pro- 
portions and  capacity  have  been  made  for  the  New  York  "  World," 
the  New  York  "  Herald,"  the  Chicago  "  Tribune,"  the  Boston 
"  Post  "  and  other  newspapers.  This  machine  gives  as  many  as  eleven 
separate  impressions,  or  colors,  on  a  single  copy  of  the  paper;  that 
is,  it  will  print  in  six  colors  on  one  side  of  the  sheet  and  five  on  the 
other,  or  it  may  be  arranged  to  print  three  colors  on  one  side  and  six 
on  the  other,  giving  a  speed  of  about  i  6,000  eight-page  papers  an 
hour,  or  at  every  revolution  of  the  cylinders  the  equivalent  of  two 
perfect  eight-page  papers  printed  in  colors.  Four,  six,  eight,  ten, 
twelve,  fourteen,  sixteen,  twenty,  twenty-four,  twenty-eight  or  thirty- 
two-page  papers  may  be  printed  on  this  machine,  as  required,  from 
one,  two  or  three  double-width  (or  four-page-wide)  rolls  of  paper. 
It  will  also  produce  magazine  forms  (with  pages  half  the  size  of 
those  of  the  regular  issue  of  the  paper)  at  from  16,000  to  24,000 
an  hour,  either  16,  20,  24,  28,  32,  40  or  48  pages,  delivered  folded, 

8? 


COLLIER'S     WEEKLY     PRESS 

cut,  and  automatically  wire-stitched,  with  all  the  pages  printed  in 
colors  or  half-tones. 

Such  a  development  of  the  art  of  printing,  especially  in  colors, 
in  which  accurate  register  is  not  only  necessary,  but  must  be  main- 
tained, would  have  seemed  incredible  a  few  years  ago,  but  this  is 
now  a  daily  occurrence  and  many  newspaper  offices  produce  colored 
supplements  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same  results,  having 
additions  placed  upon  their  quadruple,  sextuple  and  other  presses  for 
the  purpose. 

Nor  has  this  development  of  colors  been  confined  entirely  to 
the  demands  of  the  newspaper  world.  It  is  gradually  finding  its 
way  into  the  weekly  periodical  and  the  monthly  magazines.  It  had 
been  considered  impossible  to  print  half-tone  illustrations  on  both 
sides  of  the  sheet  at  one  operation  and  deliver  them  flat,  without 
smutting.  Not  only  has  this  difficulty  been  overcome,  but  in  the 
latest  presses,  such  as  used  by  Collier's  Weekly,  the  finest  half-tone  work 
is  done  on  a  perfecting  press  printing  on  a  roll  of  paper.  The  periodi- 
cal is  printed  in  multiple  pages,  as  required,  and  delivered  from  the 
machine  folded,  cut  apart  and  pasted,  ready  for  the  binder.  It  is 
not  desirable,  of  course,  when  using  fine  inks,  to  make  immediate 
delivery  from  the  press ;  therefore  the  papers,  after  having  been  per- 
fected, folded  and  pasted,  are  left  to  stand  for  some  hours  before 
they  are  distributed  to  the  readers.  Satisfactory  methods  of  doing 
this  have  also  been  devised.  The  capacity  for  printing  fine  half- 
tone illustrations  on  a  rotary  press  having  thus  been  demonstrated 
the  next  step  is  evidently  the  production  of  colored  half-tones,  and 
the  time  is  undoubtedly  near  at  hand  when  the  monthly  magazine 
as  well  as  the  weekly  periodical  will  appear,  instead  of  in  black  half- 
tones, now  so  popular,  with  these  same  illustrations  printed  in  the 
most  delicate  manner  in  colors  and  all  delivered  in  perfection  from 
rotary  presses,  folded  in  entirety,  or  in  signatures,  ready  for  the 
binder. 

88 


89 


THE     PRINTING     PRESS 

It  must  now  be  evident  to  every  experienced  observer  that  the 
time  has  arrived  when  printing  upon  the  rotary  system  will  in  a 
large  measure  supersede  that  now  done  upon  flat-bed  cylinder 
presses,  although  the  latter  will  always  be  retained  for  some  kinds 
of  work.  Satisfactory  methods  will  be  devised  for  attaching  upon 
the  cylinders  electrotype  or  stereotype  plates  of  varying  sizes.  In 
addition  to  this,  new  and  improved  methods  are  constantly  being 
brought  forward  for  the  transferring  of  type  forms,  photographs 
and  illustrations  of  every  description,  upon  prepared  sheets  of  metal, 
which  receive  the  ink  and  give  impressions  either  from  a  raised 
surface,  as  in  the  ordinary  letter-press  printing,  or  in  the  manner 
of  lithographic  printing.  These  and  other  new  methods  of  mak- 
ing plates  will  undoubtedly  lead  in  the  future  to  great  economy,  as 
well  as  to  important  improvements  in  the  process  of  printing. 

ROBERT  HOE. 


FROM    MEDAL   BY   SCHARFF 


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